Good evening.

I'll go ahead and uh call the Monday, December 1st, 2025, Columbia City Council meeting to order.

Uh invite all those who are able to please rise and join me in the Pledge of Allegiance.

And to the Republic for Windows Stance, one nation, under God, indivisible with liberty and justice for all the Sheila, will you please call roll?

Mr.

Foster.

Here.

Mr.

Waterman.

Here.

Miss Peters.

Here.

Miss Buffalo.

Here.

Miss Carroll?

Here.

Miss Elwood.

Here.

Ms.

Sample?

Here.

All right.

So welcome.

Thanks for breathing the cold in the snow to come out.

The public have multiple opportunities to speak at Columbia City Council meetings.

You can speak during let's see, public hearing, old business, new business portions of the agenda.

I do ask people to refine the remarks to the legislation that's being discussed.

You can have three minutes if you're an individual impacted or five minutes you can request if you're an organization or affected by the or group affected by the legislation.

At the end of the council meeting, you can talk about anything you want under general comments.

Three minutes are still the requirement there.

We also ask people to respect those out of fairness.

And so that people that want to speak can speak.

And I do ask that we also not do demonstrative things that might affect people's um comfortableness with speaking.

So preferably no booze or snaps or claps that might intimidate somebody from having their voice heard at the council member.

And disruptions would be addressed with a warning and if necessary, removal or recess.

So moving on in our agenda.

For our minutes, our November 17th, 2025 meeting was a five-hour meeting, and so the minutes are not yet complete, so we'll look forward to those at an upcoming meeting.

Excuse me.

Do I have a second?

Second.

Second by Vera.

All those in favor say aye.

Aye.

Any opposed?

Okay.

And then there's also been a request by a constituent to remove B 299-25 from the consent agenda to the old business.

Are there any other changes proposed to the agenda?

Okay, so um I'll make a motion to approve the agenda with Bill 29925 being moved to old business and with resolution 16425 being removed from the agenda.

Do I have a second?

Second.

Second by Nick Foster.

All those in favor of the agenda as amended say aye.

Aye.

Aye.

Any opposed?

All right.

Moving on.

We have no special items or appointments this evening.

Um we do have one scheduled public comment.

So members of the public can contact the city manager's office by noon the Wednesday prior to the city council meeting to schedule public comment.

Schedule public comment can't be on items that are on that evening's agenda.

And of note it's been typical practice of the city council to ask for additional follow-up at the end of the council meeting if they feel it's warranted.

So tonight we have one scheduled public comment, so I'd like to ask Ash Schriebert to please come forward to speak.

Is it Shreiber or Schreiber?

Schreiber.

Oh, sorry.

Okay, sorry, Ash.

Good evening.

Uh my presentation did not upload, but that's okay.

Uh I'm speaking on behalf of Vidwest.

Uh my name is Ashton Schreiber, and I'm a junior at the University of Missouri, and I'm studying music and psychology, and I'm also the head writer for Shot River Shot.

So who is SHARB shot?

So we are the filmmaking club at Mizzou, and we are entirely student-run and operated.

We do everything from pitching our own ideas, we do the entire process ourselves.

Writing, casting, filming, and editing.

Our claw is an opportunity for students to learn and get a hands-on professional experience with film outside of class.

So why does Sha Over Shot matter with Vidwest?

So film equipment is not affordable.

A C 100 camera can cost roughly about $800.

That does not include a lens that does not include a tripod or a monitor that also does not include any light or sound equipment.

Because of Vidwest's affordability, our club is able to get this professional grade equipment at a very affordable, reasonable price.

Now, while the university does have film gear that is exclusive to film production students and is not permitted to be used for any personal use, so only classwork um classwork only.

For me, I joined SHA River Shah because I wanted to get into composing for film scores.

And this club has not only provided that opportunity to me, but create a extensive networking system to meet other filmmakers that I otherwise would not know.

Now our goal as a club is to uh provide this professional level experience for students.

And without Rid West and the gear that they provide to us, we our club would not be able to continue.

And that's all.

Thank you.

If I have any questions, I would love to answer them.

We might reach back out later.

Thank you, Ash.

Appreciate it.

All right.

Moving on.

We have two public hearings this evening.

Uh Sheila, will you please read public hearing 3125?

Public hearing 3125 is the proposed construction of a sidewalk improvement project along the north side of Mills Drive between Forum Boulevard and High Ridge Drive.

Do we have a staff report?

Yes.

Good evening.

This project would construct concrete sidewalk along the north side of Mills Drive between Forum Boulevard and High Ridge Drive.

The project also includes the reconstruction of some pedestrian curb ramps at the intersections to meet current ADA standards.

Currently, there is not any sidewalk along the north side of Mills Drive.

This makes it difficult for the neighborhood to the northwest of the intersection along High Ridge Circle to safely cross Mills Drive, essentially at the intersection and reach the forum shopping center on the other side.

This project addresses that concern and also provides sidewalk connectivity to High Ridge Drive.

This proposed project is north of the proposed Forum Boulevard widening project between Chapel Hill and Woodrail.

Therefore, combining the two projects did not seem justified.

This project was recently added to the city's sidewalk master plan by the city's bicycle and pedestrian commission.

An interested parties meeting was held on September 8th, 2025.

Two written comments were received, and zero citizens attended the meeting.

The total project cost is estimated at just under 130,000.

And the city's quarter cent capital improvement sales tax will fund the project.

Construction of the project is anticipated to begin in the summer of 2026.

Lee White, assistant public works director, is with me tonight, and we're happy to answer any questions you might have.

I think the only one I had was um so with the discussion around the forum widening project, um, is this something that a project that will go in and then need to be ripped out and changed once that happens, or it will align?

No, the widening project um starts at basically Chapel Hill and runs south the Wood Rail.

So I know, but I remember there being discussion at the public hearing where some people were talking about a future potential that needs that might happen, so I just didn't know.

But I know that's not included in our current capital improvement tax.

So most of that concern is the intersection of stadium with forum.

Okay.

Of course, that's stadium's that's a MODOD intersection, but there could be some capacity concerns there that'll need to be looked at at some point in the future.

I don't anticipate it coming this far.

Okay.

Um but that being said, it hasn't been designed yet either.

So yeah, Vera.

Um in the public comments that we received, one of the concerns was the adopt a spot that borders this location.

Um can you tell us about how that will be impacted by the construction?

Sure.

Um staff's of the opinion that the adopter will have plenty of room to work following the sidewalk construction.

Um they've also been informed of the proposed project and advised not to do any additional work until the project's complete.

Thank you.

Yeah, done.

So Ms.

Pick.

From the picture that you have up now, um the X on the right-hand side is at the adopt a spot or is it on the other side?

Um it is let's see, it's right there between Mills Drive forum and high Ridge Circle, right there on the right-hand side.

Yep, on the right-hand side.

Kind of above that X.

Yeah.

Okay.

Thanks.

Any other council questions?

All right, I'll go ahead and open up the public hearing.

Would anybody from the public wish to speak on the proposed construction of the Mills Drive sidewalk?

Hello, my name is Shane Lowe from 1133 Ashland Road, although I intend hopefully if all goes to plan to be living around this area soon.

Uh I had a couple of comments I wanted to make on this.

Uh first of all, I know that the striping on the north and south side of that intersection at forum is getting a little bit old and tired.

Uh I didn't know if that would be something appropriate to include in on this uh project or not, just because there's some parts where uh and you can kind of see it on the north side there and the southbound or northbound line.

Um it's almost you can't see it from the vehicle.

Uh so some of that striping I think could use a little bit work.

I don't know if that's something that would be appropriate to include in this um project or not.

Uh also I wanted to say thank you for keeping the crossing buttons in a position that's relatively accessible from what I can tell on the drawings.

I know that's been something where else in some other intersections it's kind of hard because it's like backing up the bike to push it.

Uh let me see.

Uh at the high ridge circle uh on the west side of that road, that's a pretty steep um gutter where that kind of flows down.

And I would encourage um one of the things I'm just a little bit concerned about is that we might have kind of like a deep trough that water is gonna pond in, depending on how drainage is there.

I'm not entirely sure.

I haven't seen it in a storm yet.

Um biggest thing though that I can say with this project that uh I kind of have in mind is I feel like the main use case for this is going to be people from the higher circle neighborhood in that kind of area trying to make their way over to the form shopping complex.

And one of the things that uh is a bit of a concern for me there is that you can get across, but there's not really a good pedestrian way to get from the east side of form to, say, Schnooks or the businesses over there uh on the east side.

A lot of times it drops you off into what's kind of more of a vehicle corridor uh where it doesn't quite feel like you're in the parking lot where vehicles are going to be looking for pedestrians, and at the same time um it's some it's uh it feels like a little bit more of an auto-dominated space.

Uh so if I think as part of this project, if we could consider, and I know this is something that may not necessarily be on um city uh right-away, but consider ways to kind of be able to convey pedestrians from forum to those businesses uh rather than having to use the kind of vehicle auto corridors.

Uh that are the entrances and exits there.

Um other than that, I didn't have too many more comments.

Um there's a little bit of concrete deterioration along the sidewalk uh on the east side of form just north of this, and a bit of sidewalk subsidence there where there's about a couple inch um cliff where that is.

But I think that's about all the comments I had right now.

Uh glad to be seeing this kind of coming out.

And thank you.

Thank you, Shane.

Would anyone else from the public wish to speak on the proposed construction of the Mills Drive sidewalk?

Seeing none, I'll go ahead and close the public hearing.

Yeah, Nick, this is in your award question.

Yeah, I had someone reach out to me a while back on this, and I did pass that on to public works.

So I'm I'm glad to see this this happen.

And um, you know, in light of the comment of the comments here, I think that in your comments earlier about the forum uh improvements going to happen south of here.

You know, part of the idea here with with that improvement is that we're going to uh improve bicycle and pedestrian conveyance significantly.

That so it is important, I think, to think north of that area as well.

Um, these comments again, I was looking at it once more.

You're not you're not wrong about getting from the that shopping area back across.

Uh but this will definitely make a big improvement, and I'm I'm very happy to see it taking place.

Um can I ask a clarifying question?

When we're in an area doing these projects, um, is public work staff also looking at other sort of touch-ups or projects that they might need to work on?

I know that this is not the final sidewalk because you'll be working on that.

So you'll look at drainage issues or the puddling discussion as well as striping in the area?

Sure.

Um we we stripe at one time, you know, during the year, so I don't know that I would do it with this project per se, but we would definitely put it on the list for for striping when we do the other striping in town.

Um the mention of the east side of forum, that intersection on that side is is private.

So basically behind the sidewalk is all off the ride-away.

So I don't disagree with the citizen at all.

It's just we would have to um it'd be a it'd be a much higher lift to do something over there than to do what we're doing with this project.

Maybe an opportunity to inquire into the property owner if they're looking to make any improvements to get pedestrians to the stores would be helpful.

We can do that.

That's your board.

You can you can let them know.

Any other counsel comments or questions on this?

All right.

Uh I'll make a motion to authorize staff to proceed with the construction of the Mills Drive sidewalk improvement project.

Do I have a second?

Second.

Second by Nick.

All those in favor say aye.

Aye.

Any opposed?

All right.

Moving on.

Thank you.

Um Sheila, will you please read public hearing 3225?

Public hearing 3225 is the proposed construction of a pre-engineered metal building, PEMB at the material recovery facility site located on the south side of Peabody Road, providing for construction of the proposed improvement using a design build contract.

Do we have a staff report?

Yes, good evening, Aaron Keys Utilities Director.

I have with me a number of solid waste utility staff that are excited about this project.

Damon Crumm, he's our acting assistant director for Solid Waste.

Tom Rotterman's our assistant director for sewer and stormwater, but he was formerly with Solid Waste.

And then Tom Elliott, he's our recovery superintendent.

So this is the public hearing for the proposed design and construction of a pre-engineered metal building at the Material Recovery Facility, or MERF at the Columbia Sanitary Landfill.

As you know, on April 20th, 2025, the MERF was destroyed by a tornado.

The tornado left the concrete pad and walls along with the sorting and bailing equipment standing.

However, a significant amount of repair and electrical work has occurred to get the bailing equipment uh operational.

And the sorting equipment is not currently operational.

It is it it uh does function, but it's not really operational.

Um this equipment's not meant to be in the open and exposed to the weather.

So uh as part of the insurance reimbursement process, there's a push to return as much of the destroyed property to like kind and quality.

This public hearing is requesting direction to move forward with engaging a design build contractor to basically put a roof over the existing slab and over existing equipment and reconstruct the office and break room areas that were in the MERF.

The proposed design would be such that any future expansion or any upgrade of sorting equipment for recycling could easily be added on or put in the facility.

An interested parties meeting was held at the ARC on October 7, 2025.

Staff interacted with about 40 citizens.

Most were in favor of the project.

There were a couple concerns about the recycling program running at a deficit and whether this is the best use of ratepayer funds.

This work is estimated at $3.6 million.

Uh the initial insurance reimbursement funds are being appropriated into an existing capital account uh for the MIRF.

And then once the final cost for this work is established, uh the insurance funds should cover the remaining costs.

Um enterprise funds are needed to cover the deductible and then anything that insurance may not cover, but we expect it to cover most of it.

The work is anticipated to take 12 to 18 months to design and construct.

Um this is not an upgrade to the MERF.

This is merely to get the roof over the existing equipment.

Uh for the MERF upgrade, we will need to do some community engagement on our recycling program and then talk about how we might fund that.

Um funding MERF upgrades will also be evaluated in the cost of service study that is currently underway for solid waste.

So following the public hearing, it is requested that you direct staff to proceed with the design and construction of building of a building at the material recovery facility and authorize the city manager to proceed with the selection of a design build contractor.

With that, I'm willing to attempt to answer any questions.

Any questions from counsel to staff?

Then I'll go ahead and open up the public hearing.

Would anyone from the public wish to speak about the proposed design build construction of a building at the material recovery facility?

None, I'll close the public hearing.

Council comments.

Well, I'll just say I I I hear you, and I think um we had so many people attend the interested parties meeting.

Um I think to just talk about their love of recycling in Colombia.

Uh and I appreciate this, what we know is a temporary kind of solution to part of a longer plan to to restore recycling, but also the opportunity to expand what it is that our community wants to continue to do.

So I appreciate this.

Any other counsel comments for this?

Yeah, Nick and then Betsy.

What just suddenly strikes me that I guess this comes from having visited the MIRF previously, the one that went away.

Uh and the people who are working there.

Would this change what we're doing in terms of the number of employees that that we're that we're employing right now for this for this purpose and need anything related to recycling in general, I guess.

You mean by putting the roof back over it?

Yeah, is it gonna is it gonna mean that we're gonna be ha having more personnel?

Uh well, I think it'll mean that the personnel that that with those job titles to do the sorting and stuff, we can get them back working doing that sort of work instead of some of the other work that they're currently doing.

Right.

Okay, good.

Yeah, Betsy.

Um as part of the entire um redo of our recycling.

I mean, this is just part of what we've talked about doing, I thought.

This is yeah, this is just to get us back to being able to possibly sort and bail the equipment.

We're gonna need to do uh a community engagement to talk about whether we want to do single stream or dual stream and incorporating automated recycling, and if we want to expand our sorting or if we want to do something different.

So we're gonna need to do some more engagement on those pieces.

So this building We can continue to use this no matter what we end up doing.

Yes.

Yes.

If if we choose to go like the transfer route and we just want to transfer our recycling, we would use it for that.

So that's the whole idea is to make this as flexible as we can so that if we need to upgrade and expand it for uh better recycling, we can do that, or if we want to use it as a transfer station, we can do that.

Um it should be fairly flexible for those.

Okay, great.

Thank you.

Valerie and then Vera.

Oh, I thought you were making it.

Oh, okay, sorry.

Okay, sorry.

Vera.

Yeah.

Um so I loved getting to tour the facility very recently, and it was kind of an interesting time to do it.

I got to see the machinery without the building around it in that kind of odd section of time.

And one of the things that really struck me uh, both in seeing it and seeing the pictures after the tornado was how the prefab building just kind of folded against the wind.

And also knowing that that tornado hit what, five minutes after the last employee had clocked out.

And so if it had hit sooner, what would have happened to people inside of that building?

So I'm I'm wondering if that conversation has led to any changes in like emergency weather policies and how employees are able to shelter if there is like a tornado watch.

Right.

Uh they do have policies already about where to go and extreme weather.

But yeah, it's definitely an opportunity to revisit those and make sure that they are appropriate and that everybody knows where those locations are for sure.

Yeah.

Any other counsel comments?

Okay.

Um I'll go ahead and make a motion authorizing staff to proceed with the design and construction of a building at the material recovery facility.

And then for city and for the city manager to proceed with the selection of a design build contractor.

Do I have a second?

Second.

Second by Don.

All those in favor say aye.

Aye.

All right.

Well, appreciate it.

Thank you.

All right.

Moving on.

Um we had uh the request to move Bill 299-25 from consent to old business.

So, Sheila, will you please read that legislation?

Uh Council Bill 29925 is an ordinance granting the issuance of a conditional use permit to Lori Brockman to allow the operation of a short-term rental on property located at 2609 we wind providing a severability clause and fixing the time when this ordinance shall become effective second reading.

Do we have a staff report?

Uh yes.

Uh thank you.

Mayor.

Council.

Uh we have uh Bill 299-25.

So as stated, this is uh a conditional use for a short-term rental.

Um this is located at 2609 we wind.

Uh in case 31825 through planning and zoning.

Um a little bit of context for that location.

I will look a little broader here, but uh West Broadway there is uh just a few properties to the north of this property.

Um did require conditional use, obviously.

Uh so it was a public hearing at the planning zoning meeting, and the request was for um 210 night STR with six uh transient guests.

So a little broader context here, you can see West Broadway there across the top of the screen.

Fairview uh going north-south on the left side of the street uh of the screen there.

So uh just a little further to the west is the West Broadway um high V in Walmart.

Uh this is a picture uh of the front uh of the structure in question on Wee Wind.

Uh it is kind of a uh a little short U cul-de-sac directly off of uh we'll go back here, off a street that runs directly north into West Broadway.

Uh just to to quickly go over some of the pertinent facts, I think, in this situation.

It's not the primary residence of the owner.

It has been in use as a long-term rental.

It's a three-bedroom, one bath, hence the six occupants, so three bedrooms, six occupants.

This uh has not previously been offered for short-term rentals, so not uh advertised and not used prior or after the the uh the ordinance has gone into effect.

Um about six of the parcels within that 185 feet are currently being used for rental purposes, but no other short-term rentals within that 300 foot radius that we look at.

Um code violations right now for the long-term rental use of that property.

Um and they have all the parking on-site to meet the requirement for those six um transient guests.

So two parking or two in the driveway, one in the garage.

Uh and the agent lives within two miles.

And the agent is the owner of that property.

Um was reviewed at Planning and Zoning.

Um we did receive two letters in opposition at the hearing at Planning Zoning.

We had uh an individual speak in opposition and also brought a petition that had, I think 38 signatures from neighboring property owners on there as well.

Um after discussion review, the planning and zoning did vote nine to zero to approve uh the conditional use permit for this site.

And that's what the conditions you see on the screen.

Again, six guests, two hundred and ten nights uh to make sure that one car garage is available when they have the six guests.

So I'm happy to answer any questions.

Questions from um counsel for staff.

And I know I have a couple, but I don't know if other I was gonna ask um on your um additional attachments to this, there is the public correspondence.

So there's both the excerpts from the minutes from the P and Z meeting and then there's the public correspondence.

Was that public correspondence also part of the staff report or provided to P and Z as part of that that at their hearing at that time, or is that just coming to us?

I believe the two letters that are in the public correspondence were available to plan zoning.

The petition with the signatures was submitted at the hearing by the individual that spoke also.

So we basically had three, I'd say total, two before the hearing, one at the hearing.

And then the petition at the hearing is the one where we have 38 neighbors.

Can you I don't know if you are aware of like what was that conversation?

Because I know in one of our requirements is kind of neighbor support or opposition to that.

Can you kind of touch on what um the commission members talked about?

Or what because that you say that staff didn't receive the petition, so you couldn't respond to that.

But I'd say generally there was limited conversation uh about the number uh of individuals uh you know that had signed the petition.

Um I think the the position that you know we've taken and planning zoners taken is there's a number of factors within those conditional use standards.

And you know, they are very some of them are subjective, you know, that is a subjective one.

Um I don't think they uh and I don't want to speak for them, but there just wasn't a lot of conversation.

So I don't think um there was a lot of specific um concerns other than uh the ones I have listed on the street or on the screen here, which is um housing affordability, traffic, and neighborhood character.

Uh those are concerns I think they've heard from other um people on opposition to short-term rentals and ones that they've also supported.

So I don't necessarily think um that one criteria has has put it over the top for denial at this point.

Any other counsel questions for I'll go ahead and open up to public comment.

Does anybody from the public wish to speak on the proposed um short-term rental conditional use permit at 2609 we wind.

Good evening.

My name is Jamie Barbero, 105 Thistledown Drive.

Um thanks for allowing me this opportunity just to chat a little bit about this and speak for the 38 surrounding neighbors who have signed a petition asking that the issuance of a conditional use permit for the operation of an STR on the property located at 2609 We Wind be denied.

I did attend the planning and zoning committee meeting that addressed this specific property, and I stood and spoke against it and offered that petition from the 38 surrounding neighbors.

Um the Planning and Zoning Commission just kind of rubber stamped this rather than just listen to how it really affects this particular neighborhood.

This particular circle drive, We Wind has become a safe space for young children to ride their bikes and play on its green space.

The street that is immediately adjacent to We Wind, where my wife and I have lived raising our family for over 40 years is Thistledown Drive, and it has no sidewalks for children to safely play.

We wind has become a bit of a sanctuary for these young children.

Many of the surrounding neighbors cut the grass and maintain a pleasant park-like area for the kids to play.

Many learn to ride their bikes for the first time around the circle drive, and it's become a wonderful neighborhood area.

By allowing a continual flow of strangers or renters who are unfamiliar with the neighborhood to come into this area where children play is a serious public safety concern.

I would certainly think that no one would prioritize the request of an STR over the safety of young children.

I have always felt that this City Council promotes the very basic concept of simply doing the right thing.

And I know that's no easy task.

I've learned through my own life experience that if doing the right thing was always or even usually clear and straightforward.

Ethics would be a cinch.

And I realize you have to weigh pros and cons and make decisions that are based on established criteria and not on a motion.

I would hope, however, that you continue to understand that safety issues like this do require a wider perspective.

It is in that hope that I would respectfully ask that you deny this STR request.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Would anyone else from the public wish to speak on Bill 29925?

Hi.

My name is Paul Blanchard, and my wife and son and I reside at 14 Thistledown, which is the property immediately adjacent there at the corner of Thistledown and We Wind.

It is wind, despite the WYN.

Sorry, sorry, thank you.

I've had to look it up.

My wife and I moved there in 1988.

We are not the oldest residents on that property.

Jamie and his wife were there.

In fact, it was Jamie's home of her parents before that.

There are about five other residents on Thistledown who are there longer than we are.

This is a very established neighborhood with owner-operate owned homes.

You said that there are so many uh rentals in the area within the radius.

I suspect those are on Dundee rather than on Thistledown.

Not on, and so not on the two streets that are actually immediately adjacent.

I've looked through the criteria that are in the ordinance.

I assume that those are meant as criteria, not general conceptual guidelines to maybe consider or not.

It bothers me to hear that we might not really have to think about that.

That's a concern if you write it down as a criteria.

So Jamie's already touched on a number of things.

I won't go over those.

I will note that this has been this is a unique in the area as being a rental property.

There have been good long-term renters who fit well into the neighborhood.

There aren't complaints about those renters.

The concern is making it a short-term rental.

So now, in terms of adverse impacts, I expect that the proposed short-term rental will decrease my property value.

I'm immediately adjacent to it.

If I were listing this for sale, I would think it was a disclosure I need to put up there.

I would walk away from that property if I was looking for property and who knew there was a short-term rental right next to it.

I wouldn't buy it.

That to me is an issue of saleability and property value.

In terms of any screening, one property has a privacy fence, the rest are four-link, four-foot chain-link fences.

Any noise from Alabama fans or whoever is there occupying that short-term rental.

It's going to affect six houses between Thistledown, WeWind, and Dundee.

And I think that the uh Jamie mentioned the traffic and the potential for interactions with kids.

I would note it's not just traffic of short-term renters.

It's however visitors that those short-term renters invite to join them for partying in the backyard.

It's cleaning crew, none of whom are used to having kids riding bikes on that little circle.

I see my time's up and I'll stop.

Thank you.

Would anyone else from the public wish to speak on Bill 29925 a proposed conditional use permit for a short-term rental at 26 zone?

I just keep talking until you get up here.

I will stop us.

I just want to give you time to walk.

We wind.

I know.

I've always said we went to.

My name is Lori Brockman.

I live at 4004 Bar Richter.

I own this property, manage this property.

When I came to the planning and zoning meeting, the other applicants seemed like they had already been operating without a license, and there was existing feedback from neighbors and renters.

I have not operated it as a short-term rental because I wanted to apply for the license and do it that way.

I'm kind of proud of the way that it looks.

I keep I felt like I keep it the property up.

I don't think there have been any, there have not been any complaints about it being a rental or how I've kept it as a rental.

I also today called uh City Neighborhood Division to see how many complaints I've had in general over all my rental properties.

And there were seven.

They were mainly trash at the road on move out day or things like that, all minor and resolved.

Um the green space.

I have also taken care of the green space that they talk about in the in the cul-de-sact there when nobody else was mowing it because it was high.

And so anyway, I have also taken care of that.

That's just how I operate.

Um my intent is to continue to uh manage and operate this property like I do all my other properties, um, hoping that if there are complaints that I know my license would be revoked or my permit would be revoked at that time, but I would like the opportunity to continue to run my business like I have.

So thank you.

Would anyone else from the public wish to speak on Bill 29925?

Seeing none come to uh council comments or clarifying questions that might have.

Yeah, Nick.

Um one question about the uh review of this of this application in terms of its impact and of safety and traffic.

Is that can you talk about what you did you all determined in that regard?

Yeah, I I I would say that I think from from a review standpoint for the impacts of a short-term rental versus a long-term rental usage versus a typical residential uses, there's we don't see a significant difference.

Um, and and we don't have enough to have a lot of data to say there's a you know a significant or measurable difference in the impact of traffic.

Uh, but I would say there's there's no evidence right now that would point that a short-term rental usage of a property is going to increase traffic to that site, uh, particularly if they are only using it part-time of the year.

Um it's probably not, and again, lack of probably real specific data on that, although that's hard data to come by, like what is the traffic generation for a short-term rental.

Uh our expectations are there there's just not going to be a significant difference in the impact of uh of a structure in that adjacent area that is being used for other uses, such as long-term rental or typical residential.

Okay, thanks.

Um I did meet with a couple of the folks who live in this area, and and that is one of their concerns.

And and their concern is um in part because there's they've seen a diversion of traffic from uh West Broadway and Fairview in particular, people using uh thistledown, I think, in particular, to cut through.

And we're seeing this in other parts of the city as well.

Uh I know that I hear what you are saying.

I don't disagree necessarily with that.

I just think that this is something we need to keep in mind in general, is that we're seeing a a change in traffic patterns as a result of what we're doing with roads in general and a growing population that is wanting to move and people being in a hurry and so forth.

Yeah.

Um I also appreciate what you said about uh not really having the data and wondering I when we passed this, we knew that we were going to be looking at a period of time before it went into force, and then we were going to be looking at a period of time before we could really determine its impacts.

So I'm really looking forward to June.

Excuse me, when we have a full year, and we can look back and get some data that tells us something about the impact of the ordinance itself and what's happened uh as a result.

Uh the idea of uh the issue, the consideration of the neighbors' support or lack thereof is uh is not insignificant and and it is uh something to be considered.

It's not a determinative factor in uh so it seems to me that that this meets the criteria for uh for receiving a license, except for the the resistance from the neighbors, which is not insignificant.

Um in reading the the minutes, the portion from the minutes, I saw that the owner was uh a little bit unsure about even using this in light of the as an STR in light of the opposition from the neighbors, and I appreciate that.

I have no doubt that uh the owner is uh is a responsible person with her other properties and would be for this as well.

But in light of the opposition from the neighbors, I'm going to oppose this and will vote no.

Any other counsel comments?

Yeah, Valerie.

Yeah, these are always um difficult to approach for me.

There's a lot of things in the code that we attempted to um plan for.

Um and to control for.

Um it's always been my feeling that the code as written is um fairly robust for um dealing with nuisance issues, um, in that we have written ways to respond in the case of nuisance.

The operator can lose their license with repeat nuisance issues.

Um I'm not seeing a history of nuisances.

Granted, this hasn't previously been an STR, um, but as a rental property owner.

Um what I am seeing is infrastructure that could support perhaps a single STR, a lack of density in STRs in that area.

Um I have less concern about available housing in the area.

Um I think in this case, I feel comfortable trusting the code to handle the issues that can come from nuisances.

Um there are areas that I think it's difficult for the code to handle.

Um this is one that I think that our code was written for and I would approve this one.

Any other counsel comments on this one?

Yeah, and then I have a clarifying question.

I'm trying to quickly count and look at the maps of this, but am I right in reading that it appears the almost like a hundred percent of thistle down signed the petition?

I I think that's pretty accurate.

I think I kind of like 13.

Yeah, I think so.

Okay, okay.

As well as along Highland and behind and on wind.

We find Okay.

Okay.

You wanted to clarify something?

Yeah, I just I felt compelled, I think, make sure that I stated that I I didn't want to imply that the P and Z did not find the petition significant.

Uh I just wanted to state there wasn't a lot of conversation.

I think it speaks to the number of short-term rental applications they've seen, so they're able to process that, I think, and take it in.

And I think I would I try not to venture to paraphrase or to generalize PNZ's approach to these, but I would say that a lot of what they look at is a culmination of factors.

Uh and when it comes to opposition, opposition that comes along with specific issues that have already been identified.

I think they're taking a position that we've created a conditional use, and so we need to allow the process to to operate.

And as stated here before, we do have a requirement that if there's two um supported violations, that that could subject that owner to revocation of their license.

So there's there's there's avenues in which to address future issues.

So I think they were looking for um kind of multiple things that they could point to.

Some of the things we've seen are code violations on site, um, issues with parking.

So again, I hate to generalize the entire planning zoning position on that, but it that's my observation here.

And they they spend a fair amount of time evaluating these.

They spend probably 45 minutes each, I think the last couple I've been to.

So they put a lot of thought into this.

I think the owner would probably also indicate that they're very forthright with their expectations for um short-term rental operators, that they are good neighbors and that they are operating these within the bounds of the regulations.

So they go to a lot of trouble to make sure that that's the expectation for for what the city has for short-term rental operations.

Thank you.

Yeah, Betsy, you had your hand up.

Um I I would understand that for like the parking noise trash, but I don't know how we're going to be able to identify speeding through the neighborhood.

Because we don't generally just have our police officers sitting around waiting for that.

And that seems to be their biggest concern is the safety of people driving, not even the parking, which it sounds like has been addressed and being a good neighbor.

So that's sort of concerning the Aaron Powell.

Any other counsel comments?

Anyone else before we speak again?

No.

Fair enough.

Okay.

No, we don't you're a good good value.

I had a follow-up question.

The vast majority of these STRs have come to us on the consent agenda.

And so I don't know that we really get a clear sampling of what they all look like.

How many of the STRs applications that come through PNZ, how many of them have I'm gonna say significant um not complaints, significant um neighborhood concerns either in the form of letters or in the form of um petitions that still come to us on the consent agenda.

Have we heard from all of these?

I I I would hate to hazard a guess.

I I would say I think just in the two months I've been here, um there's been opposition to almost all of them in some form or fashion.

It may not be 38 signatures on a petition, but there's usually um uh a letter or two or three or calls to our offices or emails.

So it's not uncommon for for there to be opposition to these.

I think it's fairly common, yes.

One of my concerns um I I do watch PNZ and I do see opposition to most of them.

I don't always see the documents, so I wouldn't know about the petition until it hits ours.

Um one of my concerns is that a lot of the reasons why um in some neighborhoods we wouldn't get 100 percent of the signatures on petitions is because the majority of the properties are rentals in some of the other neighborhoods, and so they don't get the postcards for notification.

Oh, they do for STRs, don't they?

I I believe we do send to owners and occupants now.

If I remember that is a unique one.

I think don't quote me on that.

I can I can look into that.

I know that's been a recent conversation.

I think it was specifically written that way.

Um, but it is uncommon for PNZ.

Um nonetheless, the property owners aren't present to sign a petition.

Um I'd like to have some equality in how we address opposition.

Any other counsel comments for this one?

Yeah.

I would just note that this was noted by P and Z.

This is the first uh one that they've seen that did not have a history as an STR.

It's the first one to come forward that way.

Um they were considering one which was going to use.

So that complicated their conversation a little bit.

That that was noted in the minutes.

Isn't that right, Clint?

Correct.

Yeah.

I thought we'd had one before that was.

I thought there was one north uh off North Walnut or Walnut near Stevens Lake that had um that had not been operating.

Oh, right.

That might be that that was stated at the meeting, though, yes.

It is very uncommon compared to the majority of things.

They see a lot of them, and there's two.

But she does have uh a history of rental properties and not really a problem with rental properties.

Right.

Other council comments before oh yeah, I just wanted to on the petition and the signatures.

I do also want to say I think I mean this it we've seen a lot of petitions in front of council on on uh for STRs, we've seen lists form a million times.

Um I do think that this one is maybe the most organized I have ever seen.

Um and it really does look like they were literally going door to door and knocking because it is in numerical geographic order.

Um so I do think along with the um reality that this is largely owner-occupied.

Um I I do think there was a very clear and intentional uh neighborhood campaign, it sounds like in really reaching out to each other.

Um I also think I I'm pretty sure we have seen petitions with renter signatures.

Um I don't I don't know if renters are allowed to sign, but I think we've seen some renter signatures before.

Um, official petition per se, this was just something they get together signatures like.

Right.

Yeah.

And nobody's allowed to.

Yeah.

Um I also just want to speak to uh uncertain of how how this vote is gonna go.

Um if this does move forward as an STR, um, I hope that the owner will provide information about the neighborhood and the children playing nearby to forewarn people who stay there so they will know what to expect.

Um yeah.

All right.

Any other counsel comments on that?

Yeah, Don.

Just kind of a general comment the in reading through the planning and zoning minutes.

Um, and I'm glad the owner is here to speak as well.

That like you said, this is basically this is something that you want to try.

It's your property that you want you want to try, uh possibly operate as a short-term rental, um, see how it goes.

Um I would think that the uh from some of the other comments the it makes me some of the com some of the other comments tended to be kind of the stereotypical, it'll just be a party house if we make it a short-term rental.

And I don't think that's fair.

Um I think you know, I I understand, you know, that yes, we have 38 signatures.

Every neighbor has said we don't want this.

Um yes, we I think we should take that into consideration.

Um the appearance from the picture, the not the lack of complaints.

Um I do think that the owner is working hard to be a good neighbor, both here and at our other properties.

So I, for one, am inclined to go with go with saying yes on this to uh give the individual the opportunity to try.

Any other counsel comments for this one?

All right, Sheila, will you please call roll on bill two ninety-nine twenty-five?

Council two ninety-nine twenty-five, Mr.

Foster?

No.

Mr.

Waterman?

Yes.

Peters?

Yes.

Buffalo?

No.

Ms.

Carroll?

Yes.

Ms.

Elwood?

No.

Ms.

Sample.

Yes.

It passes four to three.

Thank you.

All right.

Moving on.

Sheila, will you please read the items on the consent agenda twice and call the roll?

Items on the consent agenda include bills 296 25, 29725, 29825, 325, 301 25, 302 25, 303 25, 304, 25, 305 25, 306, 25, 307, 25, and resolutions 1625, 163, 25, 165, 25, and 16625.

Bills 29625, 29725, 298, 25, 325, 301, 25, 302, 25, 303, 25, 304, 25, 305, 25, 306, 25, 307, 25, and resolutions 162 25, 163, 25, 165, 25, and 166 25.

Mr.

Foster.

Yes.

Mr.

Waterman.

Yes.

Ms.

Peters.

Yes.

Ms.

Buffalo.

Yes.

Ms.

Carroll.

Yes.

Ms.

Elwood.

Yes.

Ms.

Sample.

Yes.

All right.

Um we have no items under new business.

So we'll move on to introduction and first reading.

Uh, having Sheila read the items under intro and first read.

All bills are introduced by the mayor unless otherwise indicated.

Bills 308 25, 309, 25, 310, 25, 311, 25, 312, 25, 313, 25, 314, 25, 315, 25, 316, 25, 317, 25, 318, 25, 319, 25, 320, 25, 321, 25, and 3225, first reading.

And we have no reports this evening.

And so it's now open for general comments.

Does anyone from the public wish to make general comments?

Come up to the podium, Bill.

Copies of each.

Good evening.

My name is Bill Moyes.

I live at 4209 Fritz Court in the uh second ward.

And I'm coming with a situation that first developed last year.

And at that time I had contacted my um very cordial second ward councilperson, Lisa Myers, and addressed my concerns with her, and she contacted um the council inquiry team, I guess.

But I received a reply about this from one of the additional assistants in public works department who I do not know, Leckle Lyons.

I don't know if I even pronounced the name correctly.

Okay, I'm sorry.

Don't know that person, so I'm sorry I mispronounced it.

What you're looking at is a picture of Sylvie Street, just north of the Compass Evangelical Three Church, where the hill goes down and meets I-70 Drive Southwest.

That hill and that street has been around over 50 years.

And I know that because I formerly attended that church.

And we called that hill prayer hill.

Because if anybody was foolish enough to go down that hill when the weather was dicey, you needed a prayer for your soul.

So last year, out of the blue, one day as I was getting ready to make the uh shortcut up that hill, I ran across a locked and padlocked gate that had been constructed at that hill.

Never before had there been such a situation.

There had previously been barricades, which were put up when the weather was bad, and a couple days later removed when the weather cleared up, which I had always thought was sufficient.

Um so I questioned why this sudden locked and you know barricaded street.

And I'll just highlight some of the comments I got.

Um Mr.

Um I I'll attribute the comments to Mr.

Kreech Public Works because these were forwarded to me from LaCal.

Um he said that that this portion of the roadway during winter events has led to multiple occasions of citizens moving the barricade to drive through.

I have not moved the barricade.

I have driven around the barricade because sometimes it will be there a week after the pavement is bone dry, and there's no reason why you can't go up and down that road.

Uh moving the barricade to drive through sometimes with dire consequences.

I would like documentation on how many dire consequences have happened on that hill.

Having been in that neighborhood again for 50 years, no one has ever died.

No one has ever been seriously injured or hospitalized, to my knowledge from anything that's happened on that hill.

Thank you, Bill.

We'll follow up at the end.

You're at time.

I'm sorry?

You're at time.

You're over time.

But we will follow up at the end.

Okay.

Thank you.

Does anybody else from the public wish to make general comment?

Come on up to the podium.

Actually, I just have a question.

Okay, say your name, please.

Matt Hake.

Um my question is what happened to all those items?

I'm just my first time ever being in one of these.

And I was on so all those things that all those numbers, did that was all just second read, they're done and approved.

Approved, correct.

Wonderful.

Okay.

Uh last comment would be this whole SRT short STR program.

I admire you guys for taking that bad boy on.

That's a that's a tough one to challenge, and your policy is pretty decent.

I own one of them.

You approve mine tonight.

And yeah, that's uh that's a big one.

Hats off to you people for taking it on.

Thank you.

Would anyone else from the public swiss depict?

I don't know what I just said.

Wish to speak.

Sorry, words.

Oh, you don't have to raise your hand, people.

Come up to the podium.

I don't try to be scary at the beginning.

I'm Devin Kelly.

Just another question, same theme, because there was seem to be two different batches of numbers that you guys read off.

Those early 300s up through uh have those been uh read and approved.

I usually don't respond to the comments, but you guys are such a small crowd.

Okay, so anything that's under um introduction and first read, this is its first read.

And so this is its public notification, and so it will come up for vote at the next meeting.

Um, but everything before that was under what's called the consent agenda.

So that was bills 29625 through resolution R 16625 were all approved this evening.

Except for R 164.

Except for R-164 which was pulled from the agenda.

Yeah.

Thanks for taking my question.

Yeah.

Well classed.

Does anyone else have a question?

No.

All right.

So moving on to council comments, and we'll begin this evening with Nick Foster.

I'll just mention a couple of things.

One is that uh with the weather event that we're still experiencing.

I've been appreciative of city staff who've been out on the roadways and clearing those.

And it was nice to to come to City Hall tonight and see the sidewalks cleared as well.

So just an encouragement to everybody if there are people who are amazed that we're almost done at 8 o'clock and are watching clear your sidewalks and uh like like you're supposed to do.

Uh and then I just want to mention that I went to the National League of Cities meeting uh week before last.

Don and Betsy were there as well.

And I'm grateful for the opportunity to go.

And there were a number of things that to take away, and I'm still digesting it.

But one of the things is that the challenges that we face as a city are not unique to us.

And you hear a lot of the same kind of comments that we that we hear here at that meeting, and there are a lot of nodding heads when people share uh some of the challenges that they have.

So, in a way, it's inspirational to see that and note that and to see the way the different people in in different cities are responding to the challenges they have.

And some of the things that we can bring back, and we and we do bring back things from uh these kinds of meetings, and so uh I'm grateful for that.

Uh and I think that's all I have tonight.

Great.

Don?

Well, thank you, Nick, for stealing most of my thunder.

Because I was you saw me writing my notes.

Um, as Nick said, I was and I was also going planning to mention about uh the National League of Cities and Yes, that our challenges, affordable housing, transit, child care, workforce development, and so on are not unique to us.

Many other cities attended a couple of presentations on workforce development, uh representative from Boston, Massachusetts, and Philadelphia or other places.

Um it was interesting, a lot of great ideas, like Nick said, still kind of digesting.

Um issues with the homeless.

There were a couple and uh Salt Lake actually has a a program uh talking talking tiny homes or whatever, but it's the other side academy.

And I was just fascinated by it and inspired.

Umce I kind of collect some thoughts in that, uh I'll be forwarding that to Carlin and trying to figure out how to move forward because it's not just unique to Salt Lake.

I was uh looked at their website, they have a uh a branch in Denver.

Uh it is exportable, and it's something that would tie in and work with the opportunity campus as kind of the next step beyond the opportunity campus.

It teaches them how to live, live productive, sober lives, uh and teaches them how to live, not just saying, here's a roof, here's the keys, good luck, and move on.

Um great program.

And the idea is behind behind it, it is actually self-sustaining, which is the other admirable part from uh city budget standpoint.

Um like I said, I I really like that and wanted to bring it up.

Um I also wanted to mention unfortunately the two gentlemen have already departed that had the questions about our procedures.

I was going to suggest the uh the Civic Academy as something to uh to learn more about our processes and and council processes.

But I very much appreciate them having the courage to stand up and say, hey, I don't know, and ask the question and uh get it answered.

So anyway.

Yeah, we'll try and keep it short tonight with the weather.

I'm done.

Betsy.

Um okay.

Well, I'm the third person who went to the National League of Cities meeting, and I agree with uh what Nick and Don said about it being a great opportunity to see um to learn from other cities and to see what they're doing.

Um I um took away a lot about um the middle income or the middle housing, the missing middle housing that we have and um the need to really address how to infill appropriately in neighborhoods, not to scare the neighbors and not to have huge um buildings in the middle of their R1 neighborhoods, but to actually address the difference between infill development and the greenfield development.

Um I also took away a few other things, and we'll we'll I'm sure get to those over time.

The data center thing was interesting, and and again, just the number of issues that other cities are dealing with that we're dealing with also.

So that's uh pretty much it for me.

And you're gonna be addressing this, right?

Vera will since it's her words.

Okay, yeah.

Great.

Thanks.

All right.

Uh Ballerie.

Yeah.

Um not the first person to talk about snow removal, but thank you to public works for their efforts on this.

Um I live on a major street.

My drive here was fairly clear.

Um I also wanted to thank um utilities and solid waste.

I had a Monday pickup.

Um, my roll cart was out there and it was emptied.

And I am um shocked that you guys were out there doing that work that is under the current conditions in amazing amount of dedication.

I also see an amazing amount of dedication for those that are still here at 8 o'clock on a snow day.

I know it's an early council meeting, but roads are what they are.

Also, we had Thanksgiving this week.

I had the pleasure to attend a Thanksgiving meal that was put on by Fifth Street Christian Church and Powerhouse Community Development.

This was a fantastic service to the community.

It's continuing the tradition, the everybody eats tradition that was started by Alameda Creighton who was a previous first ward representative.

Well, but I will always do my best to be there for the community and to show up for meals like this.

I will echo everyone who is commenting about the snow days and or the emergency weather, and a huge thank you to everyone at the city who helps make uh Columbia a safe and livable place, even when it is dangerous and cold and miserable outside, um, including our utilities department, who I'm sure is going to be working some overtime this winter to make sure that we all stay warm and lit up in our homes as well.

Um I want to um put out a particular thank you.

Um I learned earlier today that recently uh the Columbia Police Department had to respond to a situation at an apartment complex that required evacuating people from their homes in the middle of the night on a miserably freezing cold night.

And some uh CPD ended up reaching out to our transit department, and within 45 minutes, they had a warm bus for the residents of that apartment complex to wait in until the situation was resolved.

So a huge thank you to the bus driver who woke up at 4 a.m.

to provide a warm place of shelter for those residents.

Um a huge thank you to the CPD officer uh who went above and beyond the expectation of that moment to find a place of safety for the residents.

Um and just overall, I think that really speaks to an environment of departments who are willing to collaborate and work together rather than silos and resource guarding, which you can sometimes find in city governments.

So I was incredibly impressed by that story this week.

Um I did want to ask for some clarification on the Sylvie Road uh situation that we just heard about.

Um so I'm wondering if we know under what conditions that I'm gonna I'll talk for a little bit.

Under what conditions this road uh this gate gets locked, um, and then how long it takes for it to get unlocked.

So um we've over the years we've we used to put up what we call type three barricades, the barricades you see that typically close a road during construction, and those would get moved by folks that wanted to use the road.

So last year, going into the winter, we installed gates and locked them, and we locked them for the extent of the winter season.

And so that if you've ever been on Sylvie, it's extremely steep and extremely dangerous.

I don't want my staff on it, and I don't want any of the public on it during the winter.

So that's how we've been handling that.

How long is the winter season defined?

Usually we need to get through February.

Get into March a little bit after the beginning of March, we're usually in pretty good shape.

And um I know because I've been on this road.

Um I know that I've seen the gates at the bottom of the hill.

Are there gates at the top of the hill as well?

Okay.

And the sign says that it's impassable during rain, snow, and ice, but it sounds like the barricades are being locked even on days that there are not any of those conditions.

Could we put up um alternate signage that would that would help explain why there is a locked gate preventing people from using this road?

So I guess the first thing I would tell you is there's several ways to get to the outer road.

So once you come to those gates, there are lots of ways to get around, in our opinion.

We could put up additional signage if that's what council would like for us to do.

I just to be 100% honest.

I don't believe that's necessary.

Um but that'd be if that's what you want me to do, that's what we'll do.

I think I would be confused coming upon a road that was closed and did not meet the conditions listed for why it would be closed.

Um Western Kansas, where we had these gates on all sorts of roads out there and saw them locked all the time.

Um I don't know that I've ever seen them locked when it's not snow or ice.

And so I think something explaining why that is the case could be helpful in preventing the confusion.

Yeah, we could put signage talks about that it's closed for the winter season since that's the standard practice.

Closed from this date to this day.

Yep.

Well, he doesn't have dates.

He's you probably want to keep it very winter.

Yeah.

Yes.

I would prefer that.

We've had our fair share of snow in March too.

So true.

And April.

Any additional questions on that, Vera?

No.

Can I clarify on this one while you're up here, Shane?

Um Are there any plans for any sort of I can't remember, I don't have memorized your capital improvement uh plan.

But are there any improvements to Sylvie that will eventually address any of these issues that infrastructure might assist with?

Not any time in the near future.

Okay.

Okay.

Good to know.

So you're erring on the side of keeping it safe for both um the residents and staff.

Correct.

Okay.

Great.

Jackie.

Vera, were you done with your list?

Sorry.

I think there might have been an additional question.

I was this was my last topic.

Okay.

Yes.

Well, let me have is it related to this one?

Sorry.

Yeah, yeah.

Please.

Yeah, yeah.

Are the gates located before or after the church on that road?

I I'm assuming that there are no residences or driveways.

There are there's nothing between where I assume the second gate is.

If you're looking at this gate, it is before the church.

And then the other gate would be after.

So this doesn't actually block off the church.

This is one way to get to the church.

And then I've not used other roads.

I've only used this road and also know how horrifying it can be to drive on certain days.

Um I I'm not clear on what road you would divert to, but the churches beyond the portion that is closed.

Okay.

All right.

All right.

I'll echo the thanks to all of our city staff who was working hard today regarding snow removal and keeping our streets as safe as possible.

So thank you.

Um I actually do have some business I would like to bring up this evening to continue a conversation that we started in May regarding uh campaign finance reform.

And um so I guess my question is do you want me to make a motion first to see if we have a discussion?

Okay.

So my motion is that we create a municipal campaign finance reform commission to study this issue and bring back a report to council.

Okay, so we have a motion.

Do we have a second?

Second?

Second by Vera.

So yes, now discussion on discussion.

Okay.

So this discussion or this uh was has been brought to me by multiple people in this city regarding creating a limit to individual contributions to municipal campaigns.

Um Kansas City and St.

Louis have implemented something like this.

I believe Springfield is in the process.

If I read the last thing correctly, they're in the process of looking at it.

So that kind of makes Columbia next.

Um across the uh cities of the information that we had, it looked like there was about a 2600, so $2,600 cap placed on individual contributions.

That's beside the point that's getting in the weeds.

My motion is that we create a group, whether we call it a commission, committee, whatever, of an odd number of people, diverse appointments that represent various parts of the city in order to um review all the documents that have been received thus far to the city council regarding campaign finance reform and any documents that would be provided in the future regarding this topic, gather and summarize input from the public regarding campaign finance reform and the return report to council with an advisory opinion regarding campaign finance reform ordinance and if it should be written for Columbia.

Questions from counsel for Jackie on this?

And yeah, Nick.

I'd rather not call it a commission, just because I think it might be confusing with all the other commissions that we have and and you know the commissions are pretty much permanent.

You're looking at something like one year, right?

Yeah, something more temporary.

And so commission was, you know, because I was basing it like on the Vision Commission because that was a temporary commission previously.

Well, but it it hung around for a while.

It did.

It did.

It did.

So and that's part of my concern there.

It it uh in fact it's the one commission I think we've uh decommissioned, as it were.

Yeah.

So I I just not I would this it's just a it's a small thing.

But I think it'd be better to come up with another name other than commission.

Committee.

Task force is most commonly used force, yeah.

Yeah.

And to to one of your questions you had, task force can be council appointed.

They don't have to be not only just mayor task force, that just is the most common one we see.

Right.

Yeah.

Additional questions for Jackie on this.

Um I think one of your things too when they're reviewing it, I think one of the questions that we saw come up in um the Springfield example is about the enforcement of it and who's responsible for that sort of enforcement.

So my recommendation was for also the task force to look into that and make recommendations since this is not something the MEC does.

Um it would fall upon us, and you'd want to make sure not to have it be staff doesn't want to be biased, you know, for incumbent versus um new and whatever.

So that's one of the concerns that Springfield had brought up in the story on their review over it.

So let's say that um that you receive a can uh candidate receives a contribution that is over the limit.

Who enforces that?

And so if it the idea, the concern that was written up from Springfield is you want to be careful because if it's something that's a municipal ordinance enforcement, those are also, especially if it's an incumbent, those are the purple people who are also like the city clerk is one of our employees.

And so you don't you there's a question over just making sure that they are clear on um being safe from enforcing something against their boss.

Okay.

Yeah.

So but I think it's been addressed.

Other cities have addressed it.

I just know it's going to be a question that our staff will ask.

I believe other cities have actually formed a separate finance commission.

Yeah, but that's there's the commission.

That's where that could be a commission then who does the research and the investigation into it.

That's where a commission would be useful.

Yeah.

Which should be included then in the report that would come back to us.

Exactly.

Yeah.

All right.

So we have a motion and second, any additional um discussion on this one.

All right.

Um all the oh wait.

Yes.

Can we just talk a little bit about the makeup of this group then and how how would they be appointed and so forth?

Well, and that's asked the questions from staff who would be the ones kind of advertising it.

I mean, if we advertise for this.

Um so Nancy, I don't know if you have that sort of recommendation for what information you need from us.

No, I was just going to say that, you know, depending upon what the task force has been in previously, there have been different ways that those types of appointments have occurred in the past, whether it is an advertisement and the council as a whole chooses, whether or not individual council members each choose someone from their own wards.

I mean, I'm thinking about all the various ways that task force have have come about in the past.

Um of it like for ward redistricting, things like that, that you you get the individual council members who who try to create a uh a diverse group.

So, you know, that can that selection can occur however you want it to occur, but that's just one way to do it, whether or not you say it, you know, somebody has to be from each ward, two people from each ward.

So we could do it as a sky's the limit.

We could do it as um uh each council, each ward member could appoint somebody from their ward, and then I could just appoint somebody as the seventh person since I don't have a ward, I have a city.

May I suggest that one of the things we could do as a staff would be to bring back uh maybe something a draft along the lines of what uh council member sample has suggested along with some other best practices or alternatives that you can talk about and and actually give you then something in writing that you can talk about, you know, manner of appointment, number of the same.

As a resolution to vote on, then that we can edit at the time.

Well, that you can edit, like bring it back maybe as a report.

So that you can actually have a chance to discuss it, because what we could do is put that out there, and that'll give you a chance to have a conversation.

Do we want this to come back with seven members?

Do we want it to come back with 15?

You know, eleven.

What do you want and kind of then give you those those uh for lack of a better phrase, task force composition decision points that council will need to make.

And if you want that to actually come back as a formal resolution, we can, or we can do that as a report.

Yeah, fear.

I would just say um when we are talking about something that would directly affect um any potential re-election campaigns of every person sitting at this table.

Um I don't know that having any member be appointed by a single person would be would be a great way to handle that.

It feels like you could very easily appoint someone directly tied to your campaign, or there could easily be either actual negative intent or perceived negative intent with that.

So I think more of a whole council decision might lead to a more diverse board.

I think that was mentioned in some of the information that I reviewed too, like some of the conditions you can put on appointment is that they cannot be actively engaged in a campaign, or they can't be a candidate, or they can't have been engaged in a campaign for the previous calendar year or something like that.

So there are conditions we could put on appointment.

Yeah.

Um is there any concern with um uh Nancy's suggestion of coming back with potential legislation, you know, discuss um draft legislation for what the intent is as a report at an upcoming meeting for us then to edit to then ask for the resolution to come back.

Was her was the report going to be on the intent, or was it gonna be on the the makeup of the commission?

The makeup of it, but she wouldn't obviously be putting in the names because that would be then for us to do.

Framework.

So what I was thinking about was if we could get you a framework of how we do a task force and and get it in front of you in writing so that as a council as a whole, then you have that framework to walk through and say, okay, do we want to add something here?

Do we want to subtract?

We can start with with seven and you can add more after you've given some thought.

You can say, okay, we'd really like to see this come back with eleven or whatever.

Right.

So um, and I'm gonna ask this question all the time.

Timeline.

Yes, I'll think.

Um probably not the next council meeting because that's too long.

Yeah.

I'd probably say the second meeting in January, honestly.

I think we could get it back to the second meeting in January.

Because we're really talking about taking what it is that you've talked about tonight and and not having you try to make decision points tonight, but taking that and then giving that uh to the council as a whole in a report so that you can have um a discussion with more clarity.

So well so we can actually have something that could come back as legislation.

Got it.

Because right now it's a little squishy for us to try to write right.

And we would be making some decisions that I think we probably shouldn't be making, but if we put it out there more as a here's what's been laid out here, and here's the either-ores or something else to think about, then you can have that.

That works for you.

That works for me.

Okay, so we have a motion, we have a second, we have a discussion.

Um, all those in favor uh of the request to form uh task force through campaign finance reform, say aye.

Aye.

Any opposed?

Okay, great.

Thank you for that.

Anything else?

All right, and I'll just I have a just a couple of of things.

Obviously, thankful that I was able to get here.

I appreciate yeah, yeah, yeah, change public works, great job.

No, actually, I think it was just really timely that we had just had the pre-council about the snow response.

And so I felt very, very educated when responding to people about their questions for it.

Um I'd also like to uh to say just a quick note.

I think Don, did you attend something to NLC that you wanted to mention?

I did, and I apologize for not mentioning it earlier, but uh I had the uh honor and privilege to accept on behalf of the City of Columbia, uh specifically the IT apartment, the uh Digital City Survey Award.

We were I think number four.

Yep, number four uh of ten in the 125,000 to 249,000 population category.

So tip of the hat to uh our IT department.

Thank you for that.

Um and then I'll just add um since the last meeting, um, besides Thanksgiving and Thanksgiving break uh and the small business Saturday and all the things that come with that.

I also just wanted to acknowledge the hard work of the convention and visitors bureau for the past four years partnering with Columbia Parks and Rec with our amazing Gans Creek Cross Country course, MU Athletics pulled off an amazing event on the Saturday, the Saturday before Thanksgiving for the District 1 NCAA um championship finals for cross country.

Um we had over, I think it was we had over 5,000 tickets sold.

So people participating, that's plus the hundred people that were both competing as well as staff and coaches attending three hours at Gans Creek.

Uh now staff had obviously been there on site for and it was amazing, and I got to witness.

I've never been in a pace car before, and now I never want to go to a race without being in a pace car.

It was very cool.

So thank you to Matt Boehner on Park staff for giving me that opportunity.

Um but I also want to give my shout out to uh police.

I saw one of our sergeants being the traffic control for three hours of people coming in and out, or probably plus three hours of that, and just the amazing uh it was it was so efficient.

And just the amazing uh it was it was so efficient.

It was so well done.

So thanks to all the staff that did that.

I think I even saw some of our department directors as spectators because it was very cool to see.

So I just want to give a shout out.

You know, we get these, uh, we have these sporting events that happen, and at times it seems like chaos because it's just like tons of traffic.

But then you see the excitement of people getting to celebrate Columbia and coming to see here.

And I saw people downtown for dinner that weekend who were just like obviously from out of town and just really seem to be enjoying themselves.

And it just makes me so thankful to be part of this really welcoming community and having some pretty awesome staff that make it easier and easier for us to host these things.

So thanks for your hard work.

I know it was years in the making, um, but I was just really, really impressed with it.

And then we'll go to staff comments.

Anything from you, DeCarlin?

I don't, just thank you.

Yeah, yeah, well done.

Nancy, anything?

Sheila, anything?

Well, is this to make up for the last meeting?

We're adjoining at 8 27.