I'll go ahead and call our first meeting of 2026, uh Monday, January 5th, 2026, Columbia City Council meeting to order.

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

And deliver public life for the stands one nation, another God, indivisible, liberty, and justice for all.

All right.

Sheila, will you please call roll?

Miss Peters.

Miss Buffalo.

Here.

Miss Carroll.

Here.

Miss Elwood.

Here.

Ms.

Sample.

Here.

Mr.

Foster.

Here.

And Mr.

Waterman.

Here.

There we go.

All right.

So as a reminder, quick overview of council agendas and our rules for public speaking.

So I we don't have a very big group here, but sometimes we people get confused when they look at our agenda.

So first, um items listed under the consent agenda.

There will not be presentation on those, and there's not an opportunity for public comment.

They are voted all together as one.

For items listed under introduction and first read with an asterisk, they would be on the consent agenda at our next meeting.

And then items under intro that do not have an asterisk, those will be on old business at the next meeting.

And they typically have a presentation and have time for public comment.

The public have multiple opportunities to speak at city council meetings.

So opportunities on public hearing, old business and new business portions of the agenda.

I do remind people to keep their remarks to the legislation that is being discussed.

At the end of the council meeting, you can talk about whatever you want to talk about for three minutes.

Individuals are allotted three minutes with representatives of organizations requesting five minutes.

So I ask that people also avoid demonstrations that might intimidate your neighbors from speaking.

We can address indiv uh address issues, not individuals, and we refrain from personal attacks, and that includes on city staff.

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

Um moving on with our agenda this evening.

Our first item, uh, I'll make a motion to approve the December 15th, 2025 regular meeting minutes.

Do I have a second?

Second.

Second by Nick Foster.

All those in favor say aye.

Aye.

Any opposed?

All right, and then do we have any items, uh any changes to the agenda that's posted for this evening?

Seeing none, um, I'll make a motion to approve the agenda as posted.

Do I have a second?

Second.

Second by Betsy, I'm gonna say, to get it at one.

Um all those in favor of the agenda approval say aye.

Aye.

Aye.

Any opposed?

All right.

This evening we don't have any special items or appointments to boards and commissions, so we'll get into scheduled public comment.

Um members of the public can contact the city manager's office by noon the Wednesday before the city council meeting uh to request scheduled public comment.

Scheduled public comment cannot be on items that are on this evening's agenda.

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

And this evening we have two scheduled public comments.

So I'd first like to ask uh Robin Sweitzer to please come forward to speak.

Hi.

Um I'm Robin Schweitzer, formerly Robin Anderson, 2601 Northridge Drive.

I'm a single mom of two, a working creative and a longtime member of this community.

I'm here to talk about what the organization Vidwest Studios has done for me.

Two years ago, I became a single parent after leaving a 15-year marriage where I found my physical safety compromised.

I left swiftly and carefully, and a really content contentious divorce ensued, and at that point I had less than six thousand dollars to my name, two children to support, a mortgage, a small job at Vidwest, and a community of members who showed up for me.

When your life turns upside down, everything narrows real fast.

Time, money, energy, access, your field of vision becomes laser focused on survival.

And like a lot of women in that position, my skills and ambition didn't go away, but the tools and the resources that made my work possible suddenly felt really out of reach.

So I jumpstart my life with a 10-year-old laptop because that's what I had.

I used it to find help from organizations like True North and the food bank.

Um I accessed social media groups of parents who gave me diapers for my toddler and recommendations for support.

I used it to find work and to continue developing Vidwest, usually late at night or early in the morning when my kids slept in whatever hours I could manage while securing our safety and stability.

And when that computer gave out, I checked out a Mac Mini from Vidwest and used it until I could afford my own.

When you don't have a financial cushion, access to equipment and more importantly, the time to use it is the difference between collapse and continuity.

Then my computer keyboard stopped working under a deadline, of course.

So I texted a Vid West studio manager on call and asked if they had any extras, because even $20 at that time toward a new one was a real choice between feeding my kids and being able to work.

They had a box full of them for free, and I was back online within an hour.

So that one computer became my saving grace and access point to scale my digital media consulting business.

So shortly into this journey, a company in the UK reached out to me and asked me to provide the same consulting work that I had been doing for Vid West for a few years, and I said yes, and my business took off.

So today the work that I do from Columbia supports our nonprofits in our city, state through the US, the UK, South America, Africa, and more.

But I earned my living here, and I raise my kids here, and I carry Columbia with me into every professional partnership because of Vidwest.

And during the most exhausting weeks of my life, I'd barely slept and had literally been moving from safe house to safe house.

And that kind of access and care is not just a cultural impact, it's life saving.

It is workforce development and it is economic mobility.

They also invested in my ability to earn so that they hired me to teach social media classes, and at least two attendees of those classes became long-term clients of mine, generating thousands of dollars of income for me and for them.

For them, it was money that was poured directly back into this city.

And for me, that income paid for groceries, dental care, counseling, clothes, gas, and even a few Christmas presents.

So that work allowed me to begin rebuilding from ground zero.

Vidwest, without that income, I wouldn't have been able to stay in our home or in Columbia.

And it's what's allowed me and my children's lives to remain steady during a time of enormous disruption.

It's not just cameras and equipment, it's an infrastructure of care and access.

They make it possible for people without inherited resources or people who have lost everything to continue participating fully in professional and public life.

If Vidwest didn't exist, that service gap may not be filled by the private market, and I know that because I live that reality.

Without Vidwest, I would be working less, earning less, and contributing less.

Not because of a lack of skill or effort, but because of access to media.

So when we talk about community media, we're really talking about who gets to participate in public life, who gets to tell their story, and who gets to build a livelihood while carrying responsibility.

But for me, Vidwest has been the difference between barely surviving and being able to sustain a life that works for me and my kids.

Thanks for listening and for holding space.

Thanks, Robin.

Now I'd like to ask Tracy Wilson Cleep to please come forward.

That's all Dr.

Tracy Wilson Cleekamp, Race Matters Friends.

Hope is not naive.

Hope is work.

In 1873, Second Baptist Church, organized in 1866, just a few years after the close of slavery, experienced a moral crisis.

Some of the church trustees and some deacons acted without the consent of the entire board.

The newspaper article noted that these trustees and deacons borrowed without the consent or knowledge of the church the sum of 400 and mortgage the building and then declined to give a satisfactory answer.

All of this was in clear violation of the church.

The trustees that the church noted are a standing committee of the church, appointed for a specific purpose.

They are therefore entirely under the direction of the church and not separate from or independent from that body.

They cannot sell or use or dispose of their property in their hands except by instructed by the church.

The unilateral decision of a few outside of their authority led to their expulsion from the church board.

The trauma of this event not only created a debt to the church, but also fostered mistrust within the church community, a painful sentiment remembered in news reports nearly a hundred years later.

However, moral courage and transparency allowed the brick and mortar work of hope to continue unabated, with a long-standing and invitation to the white community to join them and the fundraising effort to build from the ground up a thriving Second Baptist church and school as free people.

Black citizens actively crafted and embedded hope as a community system of justice that they held them held accountable to each other.

They called a special meeting and made the appropriate corrections.

Their collective action built on the foundation of hope as a moral resistance, rejected pacific passivity, or kicking the can as a response.

Notice to the public was the story's headline about this event, and I believe it demonstrated active hope by transparently noting unilateral action could not be tolerated in the face of a racist climate in which they lived.

Today the city manager's office has funds at its discretion, but I'm not aware that there's a process to distribute these funds to various organizations and citizens.

I don't know if the intent is to buy silence, complicity, or apathy from funded groups.

But the brick and mortar work of hope cannot flourish under a pretext of naivety, silence, erasure, and opacity.

Hope is a commitment to an ethical and transparent processes that build trust and the capacity for transformation.

I'm still waiting for documents from Stephanie Brown and Abby Adams for a request I made in December.

Finally, just to as a pivot here, the city of Webster Groves, long known for its um anti-black culture, recently updated its city charter with an amendment that increases the pay per meeting of its part-time city council and mayor.

And while the population is under $30,000, the amount that they were making before was like $20 a meeting, and they bumped it up to considerably more, but it was really out of date.

And the other thing they added was an amendment for public engagement.

And this is this is a requirement that's in their charter.

Um that the city shall treat public engagement as an ongoing and integral part of effective and trusted governance, and treat engagement as a multi-challen channel endeavor utilizing contemporary means of information sharing, and encourage collaboration and public engagement efforts with other government jurisdictions and authorities and anchor institutions, community-based organizations, civic groups, and individual residents.

The other change they made I thought was really interesting, is they they admitted that they were involved in um racial covenants.

And there's a bit of a couple of videos out there, uh 16 in Webster Groves, and Webster Groves revisited, and it talks about they want it to be an all-white community.

And that was that's their reputation.

And they said we want to recognize and repudiate our history of discriminating against African Americans by recognizing and enabling racially restricted covenants.

And so they are encouraging people to bring their deeds to the courthouse so that they can have their racially restrictive deed restrictions moved removed.

Um I thought that was a pretty big deal, and that was part of their sort of a strategic planning process.

In closing, hope is a moral is a moral resistance to unilateral power, egocentric individualism, and authoritarian uh personalities in government.

And I wanted to cite from the Ralph M.

Brown Act, if I will, um, just a little piece of it, because I think it's a great Sunshine Act.

The people do not yield their sovereignty to the agencies which serve them.

The people in delegating authority do not give their public servants the right to decide what is good for the people to know and what is not good for them to know.

The people insist on remaining informed so that they may remain control over the instruments they have created.

Thank you.

Thank you, Tracy.

All right, moving on.

We have no public hearings this evening, so we'll go right into old business.

Sheila, will you please read Bill 32325?

Council Bill 32325 is an ordinance granting the issuance of conditional use permit to Jennifer Hempel and Paula Clayton to allow the operation of a short-term rental on property located at 411 McBain Avenue, providing a severability clause and fixing the time when this ordinance shall become effective.

Second reading.

Do we have a staff report?

Uh yes, thank you, Mayor, City Council.

Um Clerk had read this is a conditional use permit application for short-term rental.

Uh properties located at 411 McBain Avenue.

Um background on the property.

Uh again, the request would be for uh 210-night uh short-term rental with six transient guests.

That was the original request that I would note that the recommendation that uh ultimately was uh in the motion that at play and zoning was reduced to four transient guests.

And I'll touch on that a little more here in a second.

Uh is public hearing.

So uh postcards and letters and ads were published for this uh public hearing at Planet Zoning.

Uh a little bit of uh context of the properties you can see here.

Uh and unfortunately we left off street names, and I can't think of them off the top of my head, but uh essentially north is to the right uh of the uh screen, uh south going to the left, property there in the middle.

You can see uh a little bit of a um single family structure neighborhood with uh some additional um uh structures on the uh east side of that road uh that are a little more um commercial or multifamily in nature.

Uh this is the the property in question uh located at 411 McBain.

Uh three bedroom single family home.

Um the original request required the three parking spaces.

Uh again, that was amended down uh through concerns for planning and zoning, um with I think there was concerns with the addition of additional pavement uh on this site.

So the the uh request was amended down to two uh parking spaces to accommodate four transient guests, and that was the ultimate uh motion at planning zoning again.

Uh ones accommodated within the garage, one in the um driveway there uh in the front yard.

Um property zone RMF, which is multifamily.

Uh the site has not been previously offered as a short-term rental, and there's no other short-term rentals within 300 feet, just to cover some of the pertent facts on this case.

Um looking at the surrounding property and the use, um, approximately 29 of the 38 parcels within that 185 feet currently used for rental purposes.

Um the designated agent for this uh property would be about three and a half miles away.

Um during the public hearing or prior to that, we did receive two letters in opposition.

And those generally um were concerned with parking along the street, uh and also just the general desire to have this property not be utilized for short-term rental.

Uh and there was a call about a privacy fence there, and I think that was addressed at the at the hearing, and the uh owners at that time did indicate they would be addressing the fence issue.

Um violations, as this has not been used for uh rental property in the past, so uh but no other violations on record for this site as well.

Um the uh prior or post of the hearing um we did receive some additional correspondence, which I think had been sent to City Council.

I think many of those uh correspondents were in favor of the requests.

Uh there were three speakers at the public hearing as well uh that did speak in opposition.

Uh some of those concerns were with uh some of the concerns I uh cited earlier, but some of those were also with I think the identification of this as a potential um residence for uh for a affordable housing location or uh someone that could uh afford a house uh within this neighborhood that might not otherwise uh afford this uh within the middle of the city.

Um the planning zoning, uh, after hearing all the testimony, uh they did make a motion.

Again, they'd like to make motions or they require to make motions in the affirmative.

So the motion at that time uh was to approve the short-term rental with the conditions that you see on the screen.

So again, the amended four transient guests instead of the six, uh maximum of two hundred and ten nights with a one-car garage.

Uh that motion uh had a four-four tie.

So in uh the uh aspects of the planning and zoning commission, that that constitutes a denial recommendation.

Uh so it did not receive a positive recommendation.

Um a couple of things I wanted to also kind of add an additional context during that hearing.

Uh it it was uh raised that this property had been constructed originally with uh with job point as uh housing uh that uh could be considered affordable.

Uh the city did contribute, I think approximately 12,000 dollars through home funds uh to the construction of that property.

Uh and that had a 10-year window.

Uh that house was sold within that 10-year window, uh, and some of those funds were reclaimed uh per HUD uh regulation.

So um after that 10-year window, uh that property has been subsequently sold uh two or three times, I believe.

Uh and the city uh does not have any other um I think um role or responsibilities in maintaining the affordability of that property.

It's not within the land trust.

So just to clarify that.

Uh with that, I'd be happy to answer any questions.

Questions from counsel to staff.

Yeah, Valerie.

Are the two STRs on Alexander outside of the 300-foot radius then?

Uh that one I'm not sure.

So if they're within 300 feet, they haven't been identified and haven't been licensed.

Uh so that could be an issue.

That's something we would identify going forward.

The one that was um Jamie Krolls appears to be outside of, I don't know the other one.

I can't remember the other one when that one.

I see listings for two that are that have been positively identified on Alexander.

I don't know that they are um permitted.

Yeah, I don't think they are permanent yet.

Um Does our ordinance specify 300 foot radius for permitted STRs or just 300 foot radius?

I asked that specifically now that we have the software to data scrub listing websites and locate non-permanented STRs.

I'd have to look to the ordinance, so while we're having the conversation, I can do that.

I think I'd I can answer that.

Well I was just gonna say, I mean, I think when we first started this wasn't part of the conversation, it's almost like first come first serve.

So like if you don't have the permit, yeah.

You know what I mean?

Like they I mean that's that's the way that I took it to mean is that um you know if they haven't done it, then we start to enforce them for not having the the allowable permit.

Um but how do you I don't I don't know Nancy if you the We would not recognize for purposes of that something that's not registered.

Yeah.

It's tricky to me, the first come first serve aspect.

Um I don't like creating processes that are first come first serve, but aside from that, um a density of unlicensed STRs um still indicates impacts from the presence of more STRs and not that I would penalize the applicant who is looking to do it the right way for that.

Um I think that it is at least somewhat accurate to say that there are a number of unlicensed STRs in the area, and I don't have a method to know how close they are.

Um but the impacts are certainly being felt by residents.

Questions?

Yeah, Nick.

Well, uh in aligned with that question.

Uh I think that my understanding as much as much as as Barbara's, and when if and when these other STRs that are operating that way come before us, that would be part of the consideration.

Also, I'm not, you know, this is one of the things that this this particular uh application has raised for me.

Um we st we still don't know how many unregistered STRs we have at this point, right?

Who are who are operating as STRs?

And isn't there some enforcement that is being done about that at this point?

I guess my question would be how successful is that?

And won't that have an impact on the number of applicants we end up with in total?

Um, director, that last question, I I agree.

But yeah, and and I'd say uh I think the last time um we discussed it internally, I think the the kind of um methodology we use to come up with an estimate for how many unlicensed short-term rental uh was kind of due some platform searching and some I think open source software, and I think it was in that three to four hundred uh range, but but again, we don't know that is the correct number.

Uh some of those could be uh short-term, they could be middle term, they could be long term just using the platform.

So there are a lot of I think um nuances to that number.

Uh and that that's really the purpose for bringing on this consultant is they have the more specified toolkit, I think, to be able to identify those and also sort out the ones that really aren't uh short-term rentals.

So I I know Don has a question, but can you clarify?

And I know I apologize, Clint, you were not here this summer, but um at our last council meeting when we had a discussion with somebody about short-term rental, um, we talked about how in June, when it went into you know it's full years of compliance and went into effect.

I am I correct that staff did send out for those who they were aware of, they did send out postcards or something about we noticed that you are operating uh an illegal short-term rental.

Um to Nick's point, it might be useful to have that sort of information, like how many did we send out?

Yeah.

And I think we s is that that's the same.

I would I speculate that we sent it out to all the ones we had identified.

Okay.

Um but again, I I I don't want to say that per se, because I think some of that open source may not directly tie to an exact address within the city.

So there's probably a little bit of discrepancy there, but I know we sent out a fair number of letters.

Uh I think I think enforcement right now is is on a case-by-case kind of complaint-driven aspect because we don't have good information on where those are.

So and again, purpose for the consultant is that they can proactively go out and locate where they're advertising and the actual address of those locations.

Okay.

Yeah.

Yeah, Don, you had your hand up.

Yeah, in the staff report planning and zoning on the chart.

And going back to Valerie's question about other STRs within 300 feet.

Um your staff's report to planning and zoning says none, and then in the comments it says no license did not identify licensed short-term rentals within 300 feet.

Okay.

We're going to be looking at licensed STRs, correct?

Correct.

Okay.

Thank you.

Additional questions.

And then Valerie.

Yeah, I'm sure I'll have more questions later on.

Um but what you said about the um contractor did bring up some questions.

Um this contractor is the um contractor who has the data scraping service that will do, I don't know, weekly or monthly um data deliveries.

Um have we begun that yet?

We've had our initial kind of, I think, debriefing meeting with them and uh identified the sources of data they need, and we're currently pulling that together and getting that to them.

So we'll have some subsequent meetings coming up, I think, in the next couple weeks.

Uh but it is probably a three to four month kind of onboarding and getting the correct data uh and meeting with them and establishing our our kind of procedures and process.

And will that be able to give us an overall count that's more reliable?

That's what we expect, yes.

Excellent.

Thanks.

Um then I just want to clarify before I open up for public comment.

Um the ordinance before us is not the original application for six, it is for the four.

So the ordinance before us is similar to the amended motion that was at planning and zoning.

That's at least the way that I read the ordinance.

I want to just like confirm that.

I I would say yes, I'll pull up the ordinance too just to verify that.

I did, but I just want to make sure I'm reading it correctly in case anyone else read it differently.

So four instead of six.

So it would not require the paving of the front yard as at three parking spots thing.

Correct.

Okay.

You had an additional question, John?

I do.

Um in your original, again, staff reports, planning and zoning.

Staff recommended approval of this.

Uh and then the council memo that's attached to the agenda says recommends denying it.

Um I take it that that's based the recommended denial is based strictly upon the vote from planning and zoning.

So our current practice is that the recommendation on the city council is actually planning and zoning's recommendation.

So uh excuse me, staff's recommendation would be included to the planning and zoning, and that recommendations on that report.

Okay.

And that was to approve.

And then additional follow-up question?

Yeah, thank you.

Um we've had some dialogue both in planning and zoning and in um written letters to us, um, comparing and contrasting long-term rental regulation versus short-term.

Um I was wondering if you could um confirm the following items.

Um that would be um what is the maximum um occupancy for a dwelling in RMF?

This property is zoned to RMF, I believe, versus the occupancy being sought for short-term rentals.

Um, how many parking spaces would be required for this dwelling in RMF?

Um if we have any code compliance enforcement in place for long-term rentals or um neighborhood um properties.

Okay.

And I apologize if I didn't get all that, but if I don't answer, just let me know.

So the maximum uh maximum occupancy in the RMF district is for unrelated individuals.

Um of course the family then uh is not necessarily subject to that restriction.

Um within this particular short-term rental, the max maximum occupancy will be four as as within that ordinance.

Uh in this case, the parking for each of those, presuming again, this site RMF zoned, but a single family home, it would require two parking spaces.

Uh and again, the short-term rental in this case is also required to have two parking spaces.

So that that is uh an equivalent parking requirement.

Um the and I should say with the occupancy that uh, you know, a family could exceed four, this uh for the short-term rental, it is a is a hard cap at four uh in that in that uh occupancy.

Um code compliance, uh we do have um uh rental regulations that apply to long-term rentals.

They are required to get a rental certificate and go through an inspection process with our neighborhood services team.

I know there is a uh five-year renewal window right now that was recently changed uh to make that standard across all rental types, uh no matter circumstances.

Um I I know they do re-inspections on that five-year window.

So there is a um reporting line for neighborhoods.

So if a neighbor notice trash on a long-term rental piling up or upkeep issues, they can report that through neighborhood services.

Correct.

And and the difference will with with our consultant is we will have a little bit of a different avenue, all the same reporting um techniques or options will still be there, but this will be an enhanced service.

Yeah.

And I think the need identified there was because previously reporting through neighborhood services for short-term rentals had no way to register that with a visitor or someone renting the short-term rental, because they wouldn't have known at neighborhood services, the tenant.

Um that was what gave rise for the request for a different line.

Umetheless reporting mechanisms exist and are comparable between the two.

Is that a fair statement?

I I think that's fair.

Okay.

Thanks.

Any other additional questions for staff?

All right.

Does anybody from the public wish to speak on Bill 32325?

Just come up to the podium.

There's no sign up or lineup.

Uh are you requesting on the behalf of the applicant?

Yes.

Yes.

Yes.

So state your name.

Russell Boyd, I know some of you.

Um I am here on behalf of the owners and the applicant.

I'm also here on behalf of the designated agent and potential manager.

I'm here because I she also works for me.

So I am Russell Boyd Real Estate Group, downtown business owner.

I'm also on the CID.

Um Jessica works for me as an agent.

And so what I'm going to do is um briefly describe or read a statement from Jessica, and then I'd like to add a little bit of my flair to the end.

Um I'm coming from the perspective of a real estate agent who believes strongly in private property rights.

I do not have any skin in this game.

I do not currently own or manage any short-term rentals, but I feel very strongly about it.

So there's some issues that have come up that I kind of wanted to roll this all together because this this case specifically, and I'd like to ask a question of the city.

Ask it of us, Russ, and then we'll ask them later.

So if during the PNZ meeting, if that short-term rental is voted on and approved, does that automatically go to the consent agenda?

So we are here specifically for this short-term rental that was uh recommended by the city staff to be approved.

It met administratively all the criteria.

It's been inspected, parking, um 300-foot setback requirements.

So that's where it got a little bit off in the weeds during PNZ, and I thought that was very important because it kind of tied into some other things.

So I'm going to read this very quickly.

Um the PNZ meeting, um, the topic came up, the public discussion was based off of personal opinion.

And if you wanted to read the transcript of that meeting, it was actually brought up on, I believe, page 18 or 19.

City staff asked Mr.

Stanton personally, um, although you have no financial investment in this, in this case, would you would you require yourself to be recused?

It sounds like you have an emotional investment because he was very strongly opposed to this because this was a job point home 15 years ago.

Um there were questions during that that came up as well, asking how Jessica, as the designated agent as a uh Caucasian female, would respond because, and this is a quote um I built this house with the youth in the neighborhood.

It's historically African American with an African American history bleeding through it.

It's bleeding through my veins right now.

How are you going to show me and prove um to maintain this house and the history with its integrity and all of that and get only the right people to rent it?

Convince me.

At a PNZ meeting, which is administrative, why are we talking about race?

How does that impact in any direction what someone's property rights if they choose to rent a home short-term or long term?

So during that meeting, um uh this was brought up a lot.

Jessica was hounded based on her criteria of a as a property manager, not on the criteria of the property itself, with no complaints whatsoever.

And so I kind of digress.

I get off to the on the weeds on this one.

It also I'd like to bring up, and I hate this word.

Affordability.

We have not defined what affordable housing is in the City of Columbia.

Should we do that?

Should there be a red line for neighborhoods?

Because this neighborhood has been designated affordable, and therefore we won't approve any short-term rentals, or should we have a red line of price points?

In the previous city council meeting last month, 3408 Eastham Road also came up.

That's another property that Jessica managed.

It was also recommended by city staff.

It met all the criteria except for one.

And that was the 300-foot setback requirement.

And so the question I believe by uh Mrs.

Carroll was is this 300 foot setback requirement by the Crowflies, or is it indirect connection?

Because this house was on a different road, different access points.

And again, that home met all the criteria.

It was 458 feet away by the road, but that was declined.

Um and I'm not sure if that was based on affordable housing because that was a 375,000 dollar property or based on the setback requirements.

So I'm we're seeing a lot of things go into the weeds.

I've seen some homes that have been approved that are less than 300 feet.

I've seen some homes based on price ranges that we could argue were affordable, but we don't have that definition.

And if we want to define what affordable housing is in Columbia, then it's easier to say this shouldn't be approved because you're taking away from affordable housing.

Now I can throw some statistics out in about 27 seconds.

Um if all the homes currently on the market are all the homes that are currently designated as affordable housing.

Let's say there's 300 in Columbia right now being used as Airbnbs.

If those all were to hit the market in Colombia, they would be sold in approximately two months, maybe two and a half.

We don't have a huge supply.

And so we're taking away the property rights, the private property rights of these owners to use the home as they so choose.

And so I think that's a very important standpoint.

Thank you, right?

Thank you.

Would anyone else from the public wish to speak on bill 32325?

Um, Tracy Wilson, Cleekamp, I don't have a position one way or the other on the STRs.

I do think that one thing that I keep looking for is an inventory of our housing stock so that we have a better understanding of what we have and what we don't have and where it is and how old it is, et cetera.

Um I think affordability is important, but I don't know how we could do that if we don't have a map of where we have housing.

Um does it have a basement?

Does it is it on a slab?

Does it have gas?

Does it have electricity?

I don't know how we can direct people to do development if we don't have a map of the inventory of our housing.

I think Mr.

Russell is correct in talking about affordability and defining it.

Um I think this is a long-term discussion that we've had ongoing.

And I do think every time that we take a property that's in an affordable neighborhood and it gets turned into an STR, we're taking affordable housing offline.

So it's a conundrum that we should um endeavor to fix.

Would anyone else from the public wish to speak on bill 32325?

Hello, my name is Barbie Banks.

I live at 215 West Ash, and I'm just down the neighbor down the street from this property.

Um and I wanted to talk because I don't care about parking, I don't care if there's a lot of cars on that street.

I don't care about transient people living in my neighborhood.

In fact, I welcome them.

What I do care about is putting up guardrails so that realtors can't come in and just demand and say it's gonna be so quick that you can turn around and start renting this property in a short-term rental.

So if nothing else, I'm here to work through the democratic process that we have set up, whether you like it or not, it's what we have right now where we come before planning and zoning and we give our opinion on our neighborhood.

There was a giant sign out front that said, come to this meeting and tell us what you think about this property.

And so that's what we did, and that's why I wrote my emails to you asking you to uphold what planning and zoning said.

You appointed these people because they know what to do.

They were there and they heard from the designated agent, from the owner, and from myself who is in opposition of it.

Um it's not a personal attack, it's just working through this process that I think is valuable, and we have set up as a city to allow for guardrails.

I bought my house at West Ash under a program with the city that was for affordable housing, because at the time I made a very lower, much lower income, and it did have what I guess you could call red lines.

I had to buy within a certain neighborhood, and I'm so thankful for that.

And I would think these sort of guardrails are similar program, just in a new form that is there.

So thank you.

Thank you, Barbie.

Would anyone else from the public wish to speak on Bill 32325?

I'm Ben.

I live at 407 McBain, so two houses down.

I'm not from Columbia, but I've lived here longer than anywhere else.

So if you'll permit me, I'll I like to call it home.

It's like at this point the place where I'm from.

It's a strange experience living somewhere long enough to see see it change.

Um I do remember when 411 was built.

Uh I remember when the city decided that they wanted to take a vested interest in preserving affordable housing in that block.

Um 405, 407, 409, 411.

We're all constructed without intent.

Uh obviously we've heard we're way outside the windows of what can be legally done with the property or not.

Um I wouldn't be here had I not seen that sign out front.

Uh and I felt like I had a responsibility to imagine I had a stake in the decision, because apparently there is a decision to be made about whether this is a short-term rental.

I guess planning zoning takes a shot at it, they think about it, and then I guess you guys now do.

But apparently that is something we have decided we're going to do.

Um since we've decided we have a stake in it as a community, it felt very strange to go crossways with the original intent we had for that particular area.

Um it's additionally challenging because since I've lived on the block for a long time, uh, when I have you know neighbors who are moving out because they can't stay in their place anymore, Carmelita, Ray in summer in June had to move out because they couldn't find a place.

They're asking me where they can live, like nearby.

I'm like, I don't know, you know, a couple months later, you know, this house is coming up for sale, no big deal.

Um and then I I just got a text on Friday from a dude who who I helped get eyes set, who's got he's got 1350 to comfortably put on a house in town.

He's got himself, his partner, he's got three kids.

He said, you know, we could go ideally with four bedrooms and you know, one and a half bath, but you know, we could probably squeeze into three and one and a half.

And I'm like, you know, kind of banging my head and saying this is what we're losing.

Now, are they gonna move into 411 McBain?

No, they're not gonna move into 411 McBain.

But every time you pluck that house out of the possible housing stock in town, it makes it that much harder, just a cascading effect of you know, for that guy to find his house.

It just keeps pushing it and pushing it and pushing it.

I don't know where the line is.

I can say in this micro sense, we probably are good on short-term rentals in the blocks of McBain between Broadway and Whorley.

There's there's a few already if you want to get one.

There's pretty good hotels in town.

Uh if this is a decision we are having to make together, we know what we need.

You guys already know.

We don't need more of this.

Thank you, Ben.

Anyone else from the public wish to speak on Bill 32325?

You can come up to the um podium, please.

Yeah, if you want to hand those to Sheila, she'll pass them out to us.

Hello, uh, my name is Paula Clayton.

I am one of the applicants with Jennifer Himple, my wife.

Um I made a sort of summary thing and we emailed in as well, just so I don't blame too much.

Um, my wife Jenny and I own 411 McBain.

We are applying for the commit conditional use permit so that we can have the flexibility of a short-term rental because we want to keep coming back to Columbia and establish relationships and you know, grow into where we're going to be for our retirement.

This has been at least a five-year process for us.

Um, you know, being married, we have to find the right balance between our ideas of what we want for the future and what we need and what's actually practical.

Uh the ISTR model lets us stay here many times a year before we retire here permanently.

It is an efficient way for us to gradually join the community and carry out the work on the house, like our solar, we put solar panels up, uh, clay plaster projects.

I have enclosing spondylitis, which is a degenerative thing.

I'm not going to be able to later.

We request your approval for our wild moss application because we meet every one of the city's requirements.

We are good neighbors.

We we have people email and support that they may have come a little late, but North, South, Rebecca on our backyard, they've all, you know, we've talked with them all.

We we are involved.

Um we're committed to being sustainable long-term city residents, and we have a responsible plan and a designated agent.

On the things that have come up, the affordable housing thing of that model did not seem to work because there were private sales after the 10-year thing, it turned into private property.

You now have the land trust, and this is looking much more hopeful.

And yeah, I get I actually do think there is a race thing with the planning and zoning if it is relevant, but yes, you do have to know what you're working with.

So yeah, um the six-gest thing that we did was suggested by Practice Patrick, Zena.

So that um if we did want to do that later, the paperwork and the meetings and everything was sort of already dealt with, but that was not our original plan.

Um, and I think every time you do sell a house in an affordable housing area, you sell it and the rent goes up.

Like it becomes more anyway, it would not necessarily be affordable.

So anyway, thank you very much for your time.

We would very much like to have a short-term rental.

Okay.

Thank you, Paula.

Appreciate it.

Would anyone else from the public wish to speak on um Bill 32325?

Seeing none, we'll go to council comments, council questions.

Yeah, Valerie.

Um I wish we had an opportunity to ask the applicant questions.

Um of the things that I wish was more often presented as an option are the availability of midterm rentals.

Um a long-term rental by our codes is greater than 30 days.

Um there are a number of midterm rentals listed on Airbnb, even though they have a long-term rental certificate as well as various other listing sites.

Um we have a lot of seasonal longer-term population that meets those needs and may still give you the flexibility that you require.

Um I feel like there's a lot of um misconceptions here about the intent of creating affordable housing, about what's affordable housing and what's not, and about um what factors can influence affordable housing.

Um, I believe this property abuts CHA property directly.

Um it was a job point home, we're out of the 10 years, it has sold multiple times.

Each sale is still affordable housing.

When it sold, a home buyer bought it in a manner that was affordable.

Um I can look up the listing prices.

Um that is part of our naturally occurring affordable housing inventory right there.

Um as far as discretionary procedures with planning and zoning.

Um, I want to read the code here.

Um this is a conditional approval.

It's always a discretionary procedure.

We have some conditions to consider.

Um item E under this conditional approval is whether or not there's support for establishment for the proposed STR within the neighboring community.

Um I'm finding that this is difficult to support as an STR at that location.

And I think one of the reasons why it's not palatable to that community is because this micro location is an area that feels the lack of housing more acutely than most of the areas within our town.

And I also want to say it was proposed that not approving this application was sending a message that we don't want you in our town, that we would prefer an absentee landlord over an active person who values the town and visits.

That's not entirely true.

It is more about rental style.

A long-term lease is needed.

Landlords of all types are good landlords.

There are present landlords who are not good.

There are absentee landlords who are not good.

And the same is true of STR managers.

And the factors that cause it to lose that support are because the surrounding neighborhood is missing housing options.

There's a high degree of investor-owned properties.

There's also a high degree of city-owned and of CHA-owned and institutionally owned properties that serve low-income community.

It's not a good recipe to me.

And I do appreciate your presence.

Consider a tier one where you're present part of the year as you're closer to when you want to relocate.

I forgot what it's called, furnished rooms for rent.

These are all through our rental conversion long-term licensed and inspected process, which is a probably a more simple process than this one.

I also want to address the property rights component.

It's a commercial use in a residential area.

It's not a given property right.

We don't allow any other commercial uses straight in a residential area.

We have conditional approvals for this, and it is discretionary.

Other council comments.

Yeah, Jackie.

In this discussion and reading through the PZ notes, one thing as I was reading through the discussion, it seemed to me that there were actually two different conversations happening.

One was reviewing the application to see if the applicants met the requirements of the city has stepped set forward, and the other was on the affordable housing stock.

I do not want to dismiss the importance of having conversations and further planning regarding our affordable housing inventory, affordable housing stock, however you want to word it.

But I think the decision that is before us tonight is whether or not the applicant meets the criteria for having a short-term rental.

And the rest of it is a discussion a discussion and planning that needs to have happen at another time.

So in my mind, I think that they have met the criteria for our requirements, and I would be in favor.

Are there council comments?

Yeah, Don.

Yeah, to piggyback off of what Jackie just said.

Yes, they I agree with you, they've met the requirements.

They're going about this the right way.

This isn't one that's been previously listed.

Uh and they're now coming around to trying to get legal, so to speak.

The other thing is, you know, if we're looking at affordable housing, this house has been purchased with the intent of becoming a retirement home.

So as far as a purchase goes, it's off the market.

As far as leasing long-term rental, we do not have rent restrictions in this town.

So who's to say they're going to rent it for an affordable price?

Okay, if they go that route.

In this case, you know, given what they have told us, they make frequent trips back here, they stay in this house.

A short-term rental accommodates that better than a long-term lease.

Well, probably midterm leases.

This lets them block off the last two weeks in June.

And they can Okay, it's not going to be listed then.

They can come in and use it.

It's yes, it's a commercial, but it's also their private property.

So having met all the requirements, and I agree with Jackie, yes, that the discussion about stock is one that we should have as we discuss housing.

But right now, also the ordinance that was adopted does not cap or limit the number of STRs in Columbia.

We do have the restriction, the 300-foot radius guideline to prevent uh concentration of STRs.

Um given that, again, they've met all the they've met all the requirements.

Uh we have, in fact, I think the action plan or operations plan, I think it's one of the first ones I've seen.

I appreciate that.

Um again, as an administrative review and function.

I am going, I am in I will be supporting this.

Betsy and then Vera Back and forth.

Betsy.

Um, um I would also be supporting this.

Um one of the issues uh I mean was brought up are the illegal short-term rentals up front on Alexander.

Well, they've had more than a year to comply, and they apparently have chosen not to.

Whether they're still being run as a short-term rental or not, I don't know.

And at what point we would get after them about that, I don't know.

But these folks have shown up, they've done the right things.

They've applied for a certificate.

There isn't a a legal short-term rental within 300 feet.

Uh as Don says they are planning to retire here.

Um, you know, I had asked, well, can't we grandfather these short-term rentals in?

And it was pointed out to me that they're illegal until we made them legal, so you don't grandfather in an illegal um operation.

Um then the other thing with people are concerned about who might be staying there.

Um, a friend of mine who does run an Airbnb pointed out that you can always refuse to rent to folks.

I mean, if somebody says, you know, you know, me and my three fraternity brothers want to show up for the football game and you know, we're gonna have all of our friends over, uh you say, sorry, that's not gonna work for my short-term rental.

You know, good luck finding another place.

Um, but either way, I feel like they've met the requirements, and I have no problem supporting this.

Um first of all, this is one of the very few times we hear people telling us that the signs in front of houses are actually working.

So I'm so thrilled that that brought people in.

That's been a long conversation up here.

Um this I think is a really tricky particular STR to talk about, and it's one that I am very torn on.

Um, on the one hand, I know firsthand how hard it is to find accessible homes anywhere, but particularly here in Columbia.

I am sure that any realtor, I'm sure Russell can tell you how hard it is to find a home for someone who is using or looking to use in the future mobility aids that they can actually use here in Columbia.

And I fully understand the desire to jump on the one that you see, even when the timing for moving into that is not perfect.

And finding a way to make it work so that that accessible home is available to you in the future.

It's also a setup that I have seen other people do for eventual retirement homes where they purchase it when they are able and when they are able to do the renovations to it that they want to see in the future so that they can move in the long term, and that is part of making a retirement home a home that you want to move into in the future an accessible and affordable option for you.

Um I do want to speak to a few things that we've heard in public comment, particularly about our advisory boards and commissions.

Um I am someone who will always support the incredible and hard work that our advisory boards and commissions do.

Um again, that term advisory I think is really important.

Uh there have been multiple bills and ordinances that I have advocated to send back for the expert advice of the people that we have appointed into these positions on these topics.

And I think that if this was purely a checklist process, it would be a checklist process, and we wouldn't have multiple opportunities for public comment, public feedback and eventually the decision that is in our hands.

And so I do think conversations about people's opinions, conversations about affordability of homes has been baked into this conversation since we first started talking about STRs in our community and are a huge part of why it took us so long to create the STR ordinance that we had ones that potentially could have been grandfathered in because they were grandfathers by the time we had one in place.

And I think that consideration, that thought process, because it has been built in, it's been brought up in almost every STR conversation that we have had.

And so I don't think the fact that it was brought up yet again makes the conversation ineffective or makes it a conversation that doesn't matter.

So again, I think this is a really a really tricky one.

I think there are there are points on all sides of this.

It's been very interesting to learn the history of this home and this building and why it matters so much to the community as well.

Nick Well, I want to make a point about uh homes that are built for the purpose that this one was.

Um I used to work with Habitat for Humanity.

Uh there are limits on um how soon uh a homeowner can turn around and sell their home uh in that regard.

Uh and for I think what are obvious reasons.

But part of the reason that these exist is also that people can build wealth over time.

And so when a house is purchased in this way and then it is resold, that family realize it or that owner realizes a buildup of their own personal wealth.

Uh and I and it seems that this is this house is turned over several times, and so that that has continued to redound through each of those uh experiences.

I think Don's point is an important one.

This house has sold.

Um it doesn't sound like it's gonna go back on the market and be available for someone.

So it's unusual in in this respect, and I can't recall a situation which which we've had uh quite like this one.

I I think I do have a question.

I I did ask this a while ago.

I don't know if I really heard the answer, Clint.

The we are seeing STR operators being called to municipal court, are we not to address their lack of compliance?

Yes, that that has occurred.

Um I I think it's uh it's not a large number at this point.

Again, I think that's something that would be uh we're gonna we're gonna approach that differently once we have our our consultants or our contractors on the by different, do you mean that we might uh we will we will have better means in which to identify them and refer them uh for prosecution if they do not respond.

Yeah, part of the part of the problem here is we don't know where we're gonna end up.

And we don't really have a good solid idea of where we are in terms of the STRs that are operating.

We know the ones that have been licensed, but we don't we have not, we don't are permitted and we we don't know uh really well the number that haven't.

When it comes to the the 300-foot um guideline, that's one I take very seriously.

And really, I think it's important to remember that a goal of the STR ordinance was to protect affordable housing, to limit the number of homes that would end up as STRs.

And I think that is happening, and frankly, I hope it continues to happen.

I hope we end up with far fewer STRs than we had when we started them at the front end of this.

And that is because of my concern about affordable housing.

Uh in this case, it sounds like someone is going to um plans to move into this home.

Um they plan to take good care of it and they're already doing that.

Uh I think, as is true for many of the things that we talk about here, one can make a good argument on either side of this and vote one way or the other.

Yeah.

Uh you know, I don't want to echo too much of what I think everyone has made really good points on this one.

I want to thank the applicant for the responsiveness to the questions that were asked, uh, and as well at residents for follow-up emails and sent to us.

Um I think for me when I look at all of our short-term rental ones, you know, there's I have a different opinion when it's an investor-owned just for making the funds of it.

I definitely appreciate the ones where it's like until you can move here, right?

This idea is it's it's a temporary short-term rental.

The idea is to find an accessible home in the neighborhood you want to live in because it meets the needs of your family.

Um, and to Vera's point, finding accessible homes are hard to do.

Um so I I appreciate that.

And I appreciate staff's responsiveness on understanding of the complaints for this.

And so I think probably following this meeting, I imagine we might have some follow-up on some of these other homes that are maybe not licensed to make sure that we've sent postcards to them uh to make sure that we're looking for compliance within this, because I also take the the 300-foot licensed one.

And and I appreciate Valerie, yeah, I like it.

I I also don't like to encourage first time, first come, first serve, but we also allowed a year.

And so I think for me, I view um we've had a few that have followed the process, and we've kind of encouraged that.

Like they haven't been renting that short-term rental until they've gone through it.

And I appreciate that.

Um so I think that's one acknowledgement that I want to make for this one.

Um without further I'll have Sheila go ahead and call.

Roll.

Oh, sorry, do you want to do other another comment?

Yes, I do.

Thank you.

Yep.

Um I did want to identify something that's come up in this discussion that I think is important beyond this particular application, and that's that affordable housing, as Vera pointed out, has always been on the tip of our tongue in every conversation related to STRs and and was in the framing of this ordinance.

And still we don't have a good parameter.

We don't have a good item in our conditional use to tie to affordability.

Um to um I I want to say regional areas that experience depletion of affordability.

Um there has been so much prior to this arriving to us at a council level, there was so much discussion about this at a planning and zoning level.

Do we have recent price of sales and a certain radius things like that?

Yeah, I don't know what that metric is.

I truly don't.

I wish that we had a criteria that was direct in our CUP that allowed us to consider affordability.

Um I wonder if there has been any changes in city ordinances from Pier Cities that handle this as this law has been updated in the five years that we were working on.

It's a constantly changing thing.

Um I'd like to revisit this periodically.

I'd like to make sure that we are following the most up-to-date practices because it concerns me that it still remains the thing that we can't talk about but are concerned about the most.

Any other council comments?

All right.

Um, Sheila, will you please call roll on bill 32325?

Council Bill 32325, Ms.

Peters?

Yes.

Ms.

Buffalo?

Yes.

Ms.

Carroll?

No.

Ms.

Elwood?

Yes.

Ms.

Sample?

Yes.

Mr.

Foster?

Yes.

And Mr.

Waterman.

Yes.

It passes.

Thank you.

Um moving on uh to Bill.

Sheila, will you please read Bill 32825?

Council Bill 32825 is an ordinance authorizing a municipal agreement with the Missouri Highways and Transportation Commission associated with the improvements to the Interstate 70 quarter from the Missouri River to Route B Paris Road and fixing the time when this ordinance shall become effective second reading.

Do we have a staff report?

Yes.

Uh good evening.

Uh my name is Shane Creech, and I'm the public works director.

Um does these agreements with cities impacted by a large-scale project such as the Improve I70 project.

Um it appears on old business tonight due to the need for an amendment.

Um following first read, it was determined that there were road names that needed to be added or modified, and no other changes were to the agreement were made.

Um more details about this project will be forthcoming from MODOT in the first quarter of 2026.

However, the agreement does lay out some commitments in regards to pedestrian improvements at the intersections of I-70 with Stadium Providence and Paris Road, and it also discusses the outer roadways proposed between stadium and midway with this project.

I'm happy to answer any questions you might have.

Um questions from staff Council T staff.

I think part of it was um Shane, can you so you mentioned that these are frequent agreements that we do with these kind of improvement projects?

We had something similar.

Um do we have something similar for phase one that was from you know 63 going east?

Um in those agreements, is it typical practice?

Like we asked for additional pedestrian facilities and for them to put in that.

Are they required to do those, or are these basically our wish list?

It's essentially our wish list.

And after the fact we've negotiated and done some things through cost share and otherwise to um to improve pedestrian um improvements um along the first phase.

Um but um again it's their it's their project and their right-of-way.

And is there any um so you know this the project that's coming forward to us has a like basically everything is being replaced.

Like every bridge that's gonna go over it seems like it's being replaced.

Are we losing any pedestrian facilities in the new and I know we don't have details yet, but do you forecast that we're losing any pedestrian facilities?

No.

Um we are gaining some in some places.

Um like I said, I think eventually when you see everything that's in there, there's probably some places where we wish we had a little bit more, but we're not losing anything.

Okay.

And then I think my last question was I had asked um, what is the the no longer um operational cult railroad bridge that we have?

And in the parks master plan is for that to be an eventual kind of cult, you know, trailway.

Um is what they're proposing to put in there meet that capacity?

Yes.

Okay.

Oh, yeah.

Nick.

Um we've received a couple of emails even late today that you know raise some questions that I think bear responses, although I'm I'm not prepared to ask you those questions necessarily right now.

But it raises for me the the question of whether whether or not and how much we still have an opportunity to negotiate with Modot about those about those facilities for pedestrian and and uh and for bike facil uh facilities north and south on those bridges and otherwise I think that this question was asked of you in some way before the meeting, but you and I think you responded that there may be have to be a cost cost sharing if if there are other changes made to it at this point.

I guess I'm figuring out I'm trying to figure out what that is.

This is really a once in a generation at least kind of opportunity, and and that north-south corridor uh there is is critical.

Uh it's going to become more critical over time.

And so what happens uh with this project is going to have an impact for many years.

So when it comes to uh uh you know non-motorized transportation, that's it's gonna be it's gonna have a long-term impact.

Yeah.

Um, I I think what I tried to illustrate earlier today was just that no different than the city, Modot's got budgets to adhere to and an overarching project of adding a lane to both sides of I-70 across the state.

Um so I think there's some stuff in this agreement that um are our net wins.

Um there's still the opportunity to have those discussions, but um there.

Again, I think most of that, if MODOT was here to talk to you, they'd tell you that that would be something that they'd be interested in a lot of different things if the city was bringing a cost share or something to the table.

So uh Beer and then Del.

Uh Thank you, Nick.

That was gonna be one of my questions.

Um and I guess kind of expanding on that further because we have received some public feedback, I believe we have public members in the audience who are going to be speaking tonight.

Um I'm just wondering, because this is Modot property, what is the proceed if if we were to just fully vote no?

What happens then?

What does MODOT do?

Do they not improve their property?

So MODOT, and I'll probably have Nancy help me just a little bit here if I get too far out into the into some trouble.

Um things in MODOT's right-of-way, obviously they're able to do.

Um when they need to do something that's not currently in their right of way, they're in no different position than I would be doing a city project for a private property owner.

In that particular situation, the City of Columbia, if we own some property in there, they would need to work with us to obtain that.

So work done on a city street in our right-of-way, we would have some ability to have those dis have those discussions.

Part of this agreement is they and that's pretty broad brush because it's so concept, but they're saying, hey, we anticipate possibly some impacts to some of these roads that are that are in this agreement.

And so they're trying to say if we have to do some of this associated with this project, they want the they would like to be able to tell their design team that the City of Columbia is on board and that that won't be a hurdle in moving forward with their project.

And so it sounds like maybe there could be like a little bit of leveraging power, particularly if there are pedestrian improvements.

It seems like you know it is so conceptual it's hard to know, but that would likely be what would be crossing our right of way.

I think what I would tell you is the the agreement like this for the first the first phase really didn't have anything like what you see in this one as far as at some of those specific intersections.

Some of those things that we knew when they were reaching out to design build teams, there were things in in there that those teams had to hit.

They had to do these things.

And so that led us to have conversations with, well, you're telling me the Providence Road Bridge has to come out.

So if that's the case, we wanted to make sure that there were pedestrian accommodations on both sides.

Same thing at stadium.

Right now there's something in the middle, what they're proposing is something very similar to what's out there right now, so it will remain in the middle.

But that agreement says if they went away from that, they would have to provide pedestrian accommodations on both sides of the stadium as well.

So those were the kind of conversations that we had based on what we knew were the minimum goals that had to be hit.

As we start to see more of what the winning design team has come forward with, we'll have other questions, you can have other conversations.

But it's kind of difficult to have that when you it's a little bit open-ended, as long as you met those minimum goals, that design team can go above and beyond that.

They're showing an outer road on both sides of I-70.

That was not a requirement.

It was just a requirement on one side.

So some of those things are going to come out as we get further into this.

Yeah, Vera's question is very similar to where I was going.

Um where do we where are we best situated to ask for or negotiate for more?

Um does the requirement for pedestrian accommodations on both sides or in the center as they approach it.

Does that include the width for what we call a pedway here?

Eight to ten foot.

Do we have any control over foreman dimensions?

No.

Um.

And at what juncture can we ask for those things?

What information do we give to the people who bid on this when we get the designs out.

Um I and I think, you know, this is not the only recommendation that has come to us.

One of the things that came to us that was very important to me was the request for sound barriers.

Um I see sound barriers in other municipalities along I-70 and other MODAC-controlled roads and highways.

Um I would like consideration to be given to sound barriers for the neighborhoods that are adjacent to I-70.

Any other questions for staff on this one?

When anyone from the public wish to speak on bill 328-25.

Good evening.

Uh my name is Alka Boyd.

I'm the chair of the bike pet commission, but I'm here as a private citizen today.

I live in South Park Aid, which is uh directly adjacent to Industry 70.

I live within probably about two blocks of the interstate.

So even where I live, interstate traffic is very loud, so I'm glad you're mentioning sound barrier.

Um some of you actually read my email.

So I I invite the city to go to Cathy Drive and stand in Cathy Drive and try to have a conversation at a normal level in their front yards.

And if you go in their backyards, you have to scream at each other.

Um when when uh when Modot announced the widening of I-70, they were standing right next to the interstate and you could hear how loud that sound is.

And uh a sound barrier, Modot likes not to put them there.

What they do is they ask the front row, just the front row of house house owners and residents adjacent to the right-of-way if they would like a sound barrier.

A lot of those people are renters, so they don't answer surveys or they're landlords and they don't care because they're running out of the place.

They don't even ask the second row.

And even if a certain percentage of those people says yes to the sound barrier, then still there are other requirements.

So if it's not in a municipal agreement, I don't think we're going to get a sound barrier.

And personally, I will move if I don't get one.

It's already here the industry really loud, and that'll put it over the top for me.

Um general, uh the agreement.

I'm not saying don't sign an agreement.

I think we need a municipal agreement.

I like to I'm happy to see a lot of bike pet related things in there, but it doesn't have a lot of teeth and it leaves out a lot.

So we next meeting there is a community advisory group meeting with Modot, and I recommend strongly to wait till after that meeting because there will be a lot more input for Modot, and there may be other things coming out of that meeting that you want to put into this document.

Um 52 seconds.

I will try to summarize.

And the the crossing of the on-off ramps need to have lights because uh again, go to Providence Road northbound, try to cross uh the on-ramp on a sidewalk and see how feel you say with just the line painted.

It's it's not safe.

So we we need um requirements in this agreement regarding width uh of sidewalks, regarding lighting at crossings.

Um we talked about sound barriers.

And then um we really need a sidewalk along the outer road of uh Northwest Stadium Boulevard.

Thank you.

You've reached time.

Thank you, Alpha.

Thank you.

Thank you for the email too.

Would anyone else from the public wish to speak on bill 32825?

Uh greetings.

My name is Jackson Hoteling.

Uh, just speaking in a personal capacity.

I'm a resident that lives without a car downtown here in Columbia.

So to echo what Elka had mentioned, there are these community advisory meetings for Modot.

The last one was June 6th or so.

Um that was an opportunity to raise awareness for some of these issues.

There was awareness raised for these issues, and I don't necessarily see any additional accommodation besides what they had originally suggested on this agreement.

Um those are things that we've been talking about when I was on the Columbia Bike Pedestrian Commission back in 2023, and what I will say again next week when we're there.

Um just for the context that we are as a state, um, we surpassed our 2024 record for the most pedestrian fatalities ever in the recorded history of our state.

Uh this will not necessarily improve that, adding more lanes, making it more challenging to cross.

Um we had a bicycle pedestrian or bicycle fatality on business loop, and I think something that this agreement makes clear is that there's so many other roads that are going to be impacted by this project that aren't necessarily the project itself.

So we just need to be preparing for what that really means.

If you go for what we've already done, the first interchange was completed, so the roundabouts towards East Business Loop where that meets up with Conley.

They didn't even put curb cuts for that where there is a potential future trail or sidewalk connection on business loop.

It's just the concrete barrier, and then if you're biking from east to west, you're gonna go almost into the highway interchange to get through there.

If you're walking, you're gonna go through the strip club parking lot in the mud at this point.

So just something to think about.

Like they they mentioned here in the agreement, like there's the Perchy Creek bridges.

They could potentially add two bridges, but they don't even have enough funding to have a single sidewalk along parts of that corridor that are critical.

Um I think just for specifics of this agreement, the Providence Road is the biggest one that I think we're losing with this process.

Like having two sidewalks on one side or the other, that will probably be five feet or so.

Uh we have an entire separate pedestrian bridge that's like of a shared use path length that connects to the bike boulevards and the shared use path north of there.

So we are losing things.

We are losing quite a bit.

With the um cold rail trail, I think that what this puts us into is we have to choose rail or trail rather than the opportunity to have both.

That is definitely an option that we could consider having capacity for rail with a uh shared use path component for the future uh corridor.

And also like it will be removing trees that aren't going to be growing back, things like that.

So and the sound barriers.

There's a lot more to it.

Um but you just need to be thinking about the consequences.

Thank you, Jackson.

Any um anyone else from the public wish to speak on bill 328-25?

Seeing none, we'll come back to um council comments.

Yeah, Jackie.

Regarding the rail um that bridge is not capable of carrying rail anymore, correct?

Currently, correct.

Currently.

So if we were to like have a vision of increasing uh rail opportunities, that would be a city expense for us then bring that up to code in order to um have rail service.

Okay.

And um additionally, the movement of utilities and or any kind of um infrastructure like uh sewers, we don't have an estimated cost yet because we're not that part of the plan.

Correct.

Okay.

So that would have to come on fiscal year 27 budget requests.

Yes.

Okay.

Um same with sidewalks, right?

So it'll because it they'll build the sidewalks, but then we have to maintain it if it's on our property.

If it's on our property or in locations like where if there's a sidewalk added across Interstate 70, where there's no adjacent property owner, that'd be something that would fall to the city for for maintenance if there's an adjacent property owner.

Our practice up to this point has been it's the adjacent property owner's responsibility.

Okay.

So thank you.

Additional questions for staff or comments.

Sorry, any council comments.

I don't know where I am in agenda.

Yeah.

The question that I lost in my previous round of questioning somehow.

Um is there a another opportunity for council to provide oversight when plans come back to us?

Um, you know, Modot will go through uh a public improvement process, you know, somewhat similar to what the city does.

They'll have an interested parties meeting early in this calendar year where anyone, including the public, could come out and speak.

Um there also is the community advisory group meeting that they talked about where they will solicit some comments there as well.

But it is it is their it is their process.

There isn't a those comments I think go back to the highway commission, but it isn't quite the same as what you know what you're used to through our public improvement process.

Valerie, if I can, you you know, one of the things that we did in that first phase was that we did write a letter on behalf of council.

And so I think um I don't I don't know if that swayed them at all.

But at least, you know, since it doesn't ever come back to council for our approval, except for if it's some of these cost share agreements.

I mean, I think we can always at the times submit our letters to both the commission as well as to the CAG group about um our knowns.

I I do appreciate, you know, in the agreement that says we know that Columbia values pedestrian and bicycle facility.

So I say like if council wants that, we can continue to send those to you had more though, but I just want to say I can't.

I I would definitely support I think I'm still processing.

I would definitely support sending a letter from council um outlining what our priorities are for this, um, what our asks are.

Um I don't like the feeling that we don't have any control over how this shapes out.

Um what form does their um outreach to the public take?

How are members of the public alerted to this meeting is going to take place for public input?

Well, and you know, as as you might imagine when it's a project like that, that it I think they they do send some information to people immediately adjacent to the interstate and they issue press releases and things like that, but it it isn't quite the same as the 300 letters I send for a project, you know, along one of our projects.

Um but they but they do um have an interested parties meeting very similar to what we do, take comments, and those comments go back to both the design team and I believe the highway commission, where it goes from there is um that would be up to them, obviously.

So do they have a list of interested parties like groups?

Would advocacy groups receive notifications?

Since this is the second phase that's going on through Columbia.

I know there were several groups that they spoke to as part of phase one.

I would encourage them to, and I believe they intend to reach out to those same those same groups about this next phase so that they're aware of the interested parties meeting, come out, see what see what that entails and are able to provide comments.

Um but I can't speak to exactly their list or you know, we did not help them put together that list or anything.

So what I want to say as far as the council comment is we want MODOT improvements.

We need MODOT improvements.

I want more control over the forum of those Modot improvements.

I'm not sure voting no at this juncture gets us more control.

Um that's why I intend to support it.

I do want Modot improvements.

Um I will write that letter as a representative, and I will contribute to any letter council wants to send.

Um perhaps help get the word out to advocacy groups.

Um I'm not sure what I could do with my vote that is better than that.

I think I think the input meeting was likely more effective than a no vote because I don't think that our desires will be translatable to them with a no vote.

So I I have a question that I apologize I did not think of far enough in advance to email because it's actually for parks and rec if they are able to row.

He knew.

Yeah.

We got the memo.

I know that what feels like forever ago you um told me about a kind of dream future project with the Colt rail road line of the rails to trails, similar to what the MKT did.

Is this bridge part of that super future casted dream?

Is this part of that section you were thinking of?

Yes.

So as part of this park sales tax in FY2030, we have funding for the construction of the Colt Trail.

And so part of the discussion with this bridge is that is a vital piece for us to go across TI-70 to expand that trail.

And so actually at the end of this month, we're going to start talking about rail banking associated with the Colt Railroad and have some public input meetings.

And so, yes, so we are starting to move forward.

We've been in discussions related to the design of that bridge with end walls and a pedestrian bridge and how that will look.

So, yes, this is part of that project in terms of the parks and recreation trail expansion to the north of Columbia.

And part of that project is maintaining the railroad.

So will this project affect the ability for maintaining the railroad for that parks project?

It all depends on how that is designed in terms of a trail on rails or a trail next to the rail, and so that is to be determined as part of that.

Okay.

Thank you.

But the bridge is it's going to be built that it could support rail in the future if needed.

Okay.

Yes.

So essentially the end walls of the bridge that is being built as part of this project could hold a bridge that is for the rail.

What Modot is proposing as part of this is to build the end walls at that capacity, but put a pedestrian size slash weight limit bridge on now, which would allow us to construct the trail.

In the future, if the railroad was to come back, we would have to replace that bridge at that point in time.

Thank you so much for that clarification.

And then thank you, Gabe.

No more for parks and rec.

You're dismissed.

It was brought up in public comment, the idea of potentially waiting for more information to come out.

Do we have is that an option or does this need to be voted on now?

That is an option.

I can tell you that usually these agreements happen kind of at this this stage while they're still working some of that out.

Um I think I would just tell you that this is what we've worked on to this point.

If we don't move forward with this, I think you you might you could possibly see less with the agreement that comes forward in the future.

I don't foresee that, but I think that's a possibility.

So there was a lot of discussions that led to what you see here tonight.

I'll say that.

Yep.

And then for my um for council comment, I suppose.

Um this is a project that I have been watching very closely and have been very concerned about for a lot of the reasons that we have heard today.

Um does not have a great history, particularly when projects involve I-70 of considering pedestrian needs.

Um when we're talking about a highway, we tend to only think about the cars and not the non-drivers that will be using the same and related infrastructures.

Um I have been disappointed by the amount of information that MODOT has been putting out.

I have tried to attend interested party meetings.

I have tried to find out more information.

And even with some direct contact with Modot, I only found out about the interested party meeting like four hours, five hours before it started, and I was not able to attend that day.

Um so I am I will say I am concerned about the outcomes of this project.

I would absolutely support us writing a letter.

Um I would possibly encourage bike ped to also write a letter where their more expert knowledge in the area could be put forward.

Um I think this is something to pay close attention to.

It sounds like whether we wait whether we agree to it now or wait until after the next IP meeting.

Um I'm not certain there is a ton of change that we have at this moment in the process.

Um I think it is about continuing to lift our voices as the actual design build is being put together and making sure that our our concerns for our community members who are not drivers are heard as well.

Thank you.

Uh Nick, you had some council comment.

Well, just it sounds like voting yes to move this forward gives us the opportunity to to have some input yet on the on the design of the program, correct?

If we do.

Sorry.

Any other counsel comments on this?

Um I I will note that I've heard the the request for um kind of like a a letter.

So maybe we can work on drafting one uh to bring back for council approval for sending on.

Um Shane, I'll look to you for some guidance on what I think in similar spirit to what we asked last time to make sure there's things in included in it.

And I think I would just tell you that probably the proper time to do that is let Modot have their interested parties meeting.

Let's, you know, let's everybody kind of see what's in there and what there's just a lot, you know.

I know they're going to provide pedestrian accommodations on both sides.

I can't tell you the width as I as as I sit here.

So let's kind of find out what some of those answers are.

That'll allow for us to write something that's much more specific, what we're asking for, have a discussion about what maybe we're bringing to the table versus what we're asking for them to do for us for free.

You know, some of those kind of things can start to get kind of fleshed out if we give it if we give it some time, just a little bit of time here.

So I think that's good.

Yeah.

Um we have an amendment sheet for this one because of the additional uh information from or the additional street name.

So I'll make a motion to amend bill 32825 per the amendment sheet.

Do I have a second?

Second.

Second by Betsy, all those in favor of the amendment sheet say aye.

Aye.

Any opposed?

All right.

Um so she Lou, we please call roll on bill 32825 as amended.

Council Bill 32825 as amended.

Ms.

Peters?

Yes.

Ms.

Buffalo?

Yes.

Ms.

Carroll.

Yes.

Ms.

Elwood?

Yes.

Ms.

Sample?

Yes.

Mr.

Foster.

Yes.

Mr.

Waterman.

Yes.

All right.

Has this thing you appreciate that?

Um moving on.

Sheila, will you please read Bill 32925?

Council Bill 329-25 is an ordinance amending the FY 2026 annual budget by appropriating funds in the amount of 133,500 for the purchase of medical supplies in support of the fire paramedic pilot program and fixing the time when this ordinance shall become effective second rating.

Do we have a staff report?

Just briefly, uh this is uh a project that was identified through the fire department's accreditation process, contemporary cities or municipalities providing uh fire and EMS protection.

It's a normal um growth as we become more urban to provide urban services and having a paramedic program on engines.

Uh what's the recommendation of the accreditation uh for actually the last four fire chiefs?

The process that we went through was not in time for the budget request through the normal process because we wanted to make sure that we were pragmatic that we worked with uh city management and with labor.

So the the proposal that we're bringing forward is a pilot program, meaning that it will be evaluated.

We're we're specifically building tools for evaluation with our medical director, so there will be physician oversight.

We've went through the process to uh uh achieve the standard for a license for an EMRA is the acronym at emergency uh medical license to provide that level of care.

And then we'll have the supervision with the uh battalion chief of VMS that was created uh last year.

So we feel we'll we're aligned to start this project.

Interestingly, the um the incident that occurred yesterday with the three critical patients would have been uh a great example of where a paramedic on a fire truck in your neighborhood would have shown its value.

And uh we probably have around 10 uh 10 to 25 incidents daily where we could prove a value by uh taking care of anyone from uh pre-delivery, uh taking care of uh the maternal patient all the way up to the end of life patient that may be older or have special needs that we can provide with that higher level of care.

Again, this has been on four fire chiefs dockets throughout the years, and uh we finally got to a point where we can pilot it, see if it works for Columbia, see if it uh um brings value to your constituents, and then we will bring a more comprehensive program.

Any questions for staff?

See none, does anyone from the public wish to speak on bill 329-25?

All right, coming back to council comments?

Yeah, done.

Um you were a little too quick.

I was trying to ask a question, but anyway.

We have the staff to do this.

This is just simply for the equipment to equip the staff that is already in the fire stations.

Is that correct?

Yes, sir.

We have about 20 uh or so paramedics.

Many of those are like myself that are chief officers and uh captains.

So we've got enough to do two companies, but I think that's the that's the idea.

Is if uh if this works for Columbia and we decide that it's a priority for us to have paramedics in our neighborhoods, that will probably look like our hiring will change from firefighter EMTs to firefighter paramedics.

Uh and that's going to be a big change for us.

And I I I don't think that we should make that decision without having the facts and some good research behind it.

Right.

But again, so we have the talent.

We have the talent, and we have a very uh interested labor.

I know obviously there is no additional compensation that uh we're offering in this trial for these members.

It's completely voluntary.

So we have that partnership, they're willing to trial this, do the work, and then again, we'll probably come, if it does work, we'll probably come back with a plan on on how to design a system that's sustainable.

Okay.

Thank you.

Any other council comments?

Yeah, Vera.

Um I just want to say um how incredible of a program I think this is, how how incredible it is that we have firefighters that are willing to step in and trial this program, um, particularly knowing that there is not additional compensation during the trial, the dedication to their jobs and to the community that they must have to be willing to be part of it.

Um in my day job, I I work a lot with youth, and I have had medical emergencies with youth here in Columbia where firefighters were not just the first on scene, but they were first on scene by a while and had to provide emergency medical treatment.

Um if they had had full paramedic certification and could have done some of the things listed in this report, um, my youth, my kids could have gotten care even sooner.

And I was blown away by the care they were able to provide, and I am blown away that they are wanting to step up and provide an even higher level of care.

Um I'm I'm I was very excited to see this on the agenda today.

Any other counsel comments?

See none.

Uh yeah, appreciate uh especially um I just want to say also, Chief, um appreciate the the willingness to pilot something that may or may not work, um, but also to test it before we make it across the board to make sure that it would work.

So I appreciate that.

Well, that goes all the way up to DeCarlin.

And we wanted to we wanted to do right by uh your guidance as well as the constituents and make sure that uh we just don't walk into something that could not bring us a benefit that we believe it will without having some demonstrated some uh outcome data.

We appreciate that.

Thank you.

Thanks.

Um Sheila, will you go ahead and call roll on bill three twenty nine-25?

Council Bill 329-25, Ms.

Peters?

Yes.

Ms.

Buffalo?

Yes.

Ms.

Carroll?

Yes.

Ms.

Elwood?

Yes.

Ms.

Sample?

Yes.

Mr.

Foster.

Yes.

Mr.

Waterman.

Yes.

All right, moving on.

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

Items on the consent agenda include bills 324 25, 325, 25, 326, 25, 327, 25, 330, 25, 331, 25, 332, 25, 33, 325, 33425, and resolutions 126, 226, 326, and 426 bills.

324 25, 325, 25, 326, 25, 327, 25, 330, 25, 331, 25, 332, 25, 333, 25, 334, 25, and resolutions 126, 226, 326, and 426.

Ms.

Peters.

Yes.

Miss Buffalo.

Yes.

Ms.

Carroll.

Yes.

Ms.

Elwood.

Yes.

Ms.

Sample.

Yes.

Mr.

Foster.

Yes.

And Mr.

Waterman.

Yes.

Uh moving on.

We have no items under new business.

So to have Sheila read things a lot again.

Sheila, we please read the items that are under introduction and first reading.

All bills are introduced by the mayor unless otherwise indicated.

Policy resolutions 526 to 626, 726, 826, and council bills 126, 226, 326, 426, 526, 626, 726, 826, 926, 1026, 1126, 1226, 1326, 1426, 1526, and 1626 first trading.

Awesome.

Appreciate that.

All right, moving on to our report section.

Our first report is the required end of year fiscal year 25 fiscal report for the downtown CID.

This is information and it's just required to be submitted to us.

Council can ask any questions they have.

I see the executive director from the district is here.

I don't know if you want to present anything or just available for questions.

Yes, I am here for questions.

Any of that specifically.

Any questions for the yeah, Nick.

I was interested in your five-year plan, Nikki.

Um and it seems very contemporary, which of course it would starts in 25, right?

But one thing in particular stands out parking, is mentioned a couple of times.

And you've got a group that's working on this.

We do have another concerns about this.

And can you can you say more about that?

Where you might see that going and what you might be looking to the city to do in participating in that.

Absolutely.

Um so you guys have the parking commission, of which we have a seat on and try and work closely with them.

We have also done we just did a um feasibility study for a possible convention center, of which talked about a little bit about parking.

Um I know that we have been in talks about doing another parking um uh study for downtown in general to see about um possible future garages or updating the garages we have.

Um you know, parking, unfortunately, is one of those things that hasn't really been fixed anywhere, uh any downtown everywhere.

So it is a continual thing that we talk about and work on.

Um that is in our operations committee where we talk about it mostly.

Um for now, there are things that we will be bringing to the city uh in guard in regards of new student housing buildings, why there's not more parking going into those types of things to help alleviate that.

Uh but yes, it is a continued topic for us, and working with the parking commission is one of the biggest things that we do.

And then just one other thing that just caught I I was not aware that you had a group of pedestrian streets work group.

Has that group been meeting for a while?

Do you have a study group?

Do you have any particular goals in mind with this?

Yeah, so they've been meeting for maybe two years or a year and a half ish.

Um we've talked with Barbara.

We know that's something that we want to see downtown, whether that is something that's only happening at night, it's only happening on the weekends, or it's 24 hours.

Um, difficulty that we have run into is barricades needed for those pedestrian streets and what that looks like.

Um we have to make sure that the people in the pedestrian area is are safe and that our law enforcement, our EMTs can get in there.

So having a movable barricade is difficult and expensive, let's say.

So that is where we've really run into issues.

Um, but they are meeting um most recently.

We have held back because we had some stuff planned for this year in June, and then realized FIFA is also happening, so we've kind of put that on pause for a second.

Um, but absolutely to something we've talked about.

Um we've held uh uh different um uh viewing or demonstrations for different types of barricades, but that is our issue currently.

Any questions for Nikki?

No, appreciate the update, appreciate the information uh and also the forecasting of projects to come.

Absolutely.

All right, moving on.

Uh report two of 26 uh is the Watering Light Advisory Board.

Again, this is their annual report.

I didn't see that the chair was here with us.

Um so this is informational only.

Um I think one of the things that I had in reading it, De Kern, and this might be a question to ask of staff is um, you know, they mentioned some of their public meetings, like a community meeting that they had.

Um, it might be nice um to receive an update on some of the public input that they received at those community meetings uh and and whether or not there are then any policy changes.

Because I think it was about rates discussion.

So it'd be good if they um when they had those if we could get a synopsis of them.

Sure, we'll put we'll provide that.

Um then our final report of the first meeting of January is our divert um program report, um, which I know I very much appreciated and have heard lots of good things.

So do we have a staff report?

Yes, Rebecca Rosslit, public health director.

So the div I wanted to bring to council tonight.

Staff have put together a look back of the successes of the Divert program since it began in January of 23.

Um you might recall we talk about Divert a lot, and Divert is really a program that integrates social services into our public safety and justice services that the city provides.

Um individuals who work for police, fire, neighborhood services, animal control, environmental health, um, and of course, our court docket, they can all refer directly to a divert um program where they are then um connected with a social services specialist who meets with the individual to work with them on what their shared goals are, their plans, and to help them as they move forward.

Um divert really has two things.

One is that the individual who was referred for assistance is able to achieve the goals that they set out for themselves.

And then the second part of that is that they no longer have ongoing interactions with public safety or the court system.

Um the majority of the referrals come from the community support docket and then the police department are really the second highest referral source.

We've had over 1,500 referrals to the Divert program since it began.

We've slowly increased that staff.

It was one person for a very long time.

Um and now we're up to two um justice coordinators and one community health worker, and we're growing the program a little bit again now that we're in the new calendar year.

Um of the 1,500 referrals that divert received, they had an 83% engagement rate, which is extraordinary.

So of those, what that means is that of the 1,500 individuals referred to them, 83% of them engaged with a divert case manager and wanted to work on some goal setting and uh reaching their health and um human services goals.

Um within the report, there's also some examples of some success stories, and I think those are probably the ones that speak the most.

Um page 11 in particular, there was a uh success story of an individual who uh we were first made aware of when Office of Neighborhood Services went to do um a complaint, probably I would imagine about some type of nuisance that's visible from the street.

And it quickly learned that it was there was much more going on.

And that is often what we find when our enforcement agencies are doing their enforcement work, there is often something much more going on.

And that's really where Divert fits in.

I know that we had a presentation from Burl at the last council meeting where they talked through the continuum of mental health services, and divert really fits in at the beginning of that continuum because they're not licensed mental health professionals and they are not crisis responders.

So if law enforcement or fire or neighborhood services encounter somebody who has a need but it's not imminent and it's not a crisis, Divert is really the place where they need to be referred, and the staff then can follow up with that individual.

Now, if they're in an active mental health crisis, Burl is the more appropriate referral.

So it really they do slot into that continuum very nicely.

Um oftentimes what they're doing is engaging with the existing caseworker that that individual may already have, um, but that caseworker may not be aware of all of the things that are going on in that individual's um life currently.

So happy to answer any questions that you have.

Um we we're very pleased with the success of this particular program.

Any questions?

Yeah, Nick.

Oh it's an excellent report, Rebecca, and I appreciate it.

Uh and and it's it's evident that we're seeing success with this program.

So there's a there's a lot of uh kudos that needs to go need to go to um Judge Nose.

Uh to uh Janie, who started with this and has done an excellent job as it grows, it's it's good to see uh the outcomes.

One of the things I was struck by was Mark Fix Mark Fitzgerald's quote, talking about how divert does, I mean it's in the name, right?

It it diverts resources from public safety agencies to health and mental health and all.

And and we and we see this it's community wide.

We have so many different groups that are involved in this.

It's a real success story in that way too.

But I'm wondering, and and if I'm throwing you a curveball here, I don't intend to.

Do we have a way of quantifying that diversion?

And I know this is not just public safety, it's it's emergency departments as well who hopefully see a reduction in the number of folks that are showing up there because they're receiving the kind of care that they need otherwise.

Uh do we have a way of uh quantifying that impact at this point?

So that's something that divert staff and CPD have been working on.

Um the chief may come out if if she hears this.

Um the quantifying part would really be does PD ever see them again?

Does this individual ever call fire again?

Those are massive systems.

So that's really kind of hard to know whether or not do they ever have public safety involvement again in the future.

It's easier for us to track does Janie or JD get a second referral on them.

That really lets us know that yes, they absolutely did have engagement again.

It's harder to prove the negative.

Right.

Um, because you would have to search 1,500 individuals to see if they ever had an encounter again.

Um the emergency rooms, that's an interesting um question.

There is a model, it's called Familiar Faces.

Uh we do it on a modified version with the Divert program.

Familiar Faces was started by a National Association of Counties.

And that model is really looking at the highest utilizers of emergency rooms.

And there's a lot of data sharing that has to happen because it's you know HIPAA protected information and consumers opt into it, but then you're kind of case managing your highest utilizers of emergency room departments, which we all know is a huge financial drain on health care.

Um there's some energy around working on that with the county, and the county has some projects in place now that many of us are involved in.

Uh Janie does a modified familiar faces using that same framework, but using it in the public safety lens.

So for divert, in order to be eligible for the familiar faces model, you have to have three encounters with a public safety agency within one month.

So that would be three calls to PD within a month.

Or you have to have two calls with two different public safety agencies within a month.

So that might be one call to fire and one call to police.

And then if you meet that criteria, then you're in the Divert's Familiar Faces program, which is more intensive case management.

It's really about the level of walking alongside someone that that you receive based on the interaction with public safety.

So we would like to get to a point where we can give really clean data on the impact on public safety, but it's really hard to prove that negative.

Yeah.

Any other questions for Rebecca on this one?

Yeah, Valerie.

Council comments, I suppose.

Oh, yeah, yeah.

Yeah, I wanted to thank you for the report.

I wanted to thank you for the additional information.

Um I addressed this in my comments, but one of the things that stood out to me looking at the program impact.

Um, I'm not at all surprised to see that most referrals are coming from community support docket and police, because that's where the interactions are.

The next biggest bubble was Office of Neighborhood Services, which I had not considered.

Um I found that incredibly enlightening and encouraging to know that you know potentially our code enforcement agents when they're working with people on the front line in actual um neighborhoods are able to refer people out to this service that um we're not only punitive, um, that there is someone who will check on the well-being of our neighbors.

Um I found that so encouraging.

Um I also appreciated I asked you for numbers for the bubbles.

Um having those numbers helps me cross-compare reports with um reports that we get from neighborhood services so we can see, you know, how often do they need to refer somebody out for community support for um divert.

Um I think that's an example of needs being met, and I'm glad it exists, and I appreciate your work and their work in the role with the overlap between multiple city departments and the services we provide to our residents.

Fair enough.

Um I mean uh uh doubling what what everyone else has already said, the the support that this provides our community, that it provides our most at-risk people in our community is incredible.

I also think about the impact that this kind of service has on our employees, on our animal control officers who go out and see a dog that they can save from horrible conditions, but they can't save the adult who is living in the same conditions, and now they have a way to walk away from the situation knowing that they have connected that person to services in a way that they couldn't have a few years ago.

Um I think that that impact on our on our employees that we're asking to go into these situations can be just as important for them to know that they have they have had help outside of the few minutes they get to spend in someone's home.

Um I think can be really impactful.

Um I also just want to say, again, echoing everyone else, um, that this is an incredible report.

You know, to the combination of the hard facts and the success stories side by side truly tells a beautiful story of this program.

And so a huge shout out to your communication public information team for putting together a really comprehensive view of uh a program that's hard to summarize.

Yeah, Don.

Um I also want to say thank you for this.

Um, and it looks like you know the program is achieving what it's designed to do.

My question is um is there any sort of public education about the Divert program and its successes?

You know, let's celebrate the wins.

Okay.

You know, we hear frequently enough about our failings, you know.

Let's celebrate, you know, celebrate a win, you know, with this program.

Uh so is there any kind of, like I said, public education other than this, and you know, we can see from our large audience here, you know, how many people are going to hear about it.

Sure.

So um we did shoot a video.

So there was that.

Um the city produced a video about the divert program.

When we have opportunities like this to really lift it up and highlight it, that's really our best chance.

We have to be mindful of the fact that there's people at the end of this, and so we have to be cautious about the information that we share and make sure that we're doing it with their permission and in a way that protects their identity.

Um beyond that, we haven't done a lot to promote it.

It's not a program where a private individual can call, divert, and refer.

It's it the referrals must come from the the agencies you see on that bubble.

It's police, fire, neighborhoods.

I mean, it's not a customer driven model.

Um we would be we'd be happy to promote it as much as possible, because we're really proud of it and we're really proud of the work the staff does.

And I think to your point um previously, Vere, is that when you're in an enforcement role, it doesn't always feel good to say there's nothing I can do for you.

Because now there is something I can do for you.

I can refer you to VERT and one of the social services people will get a hold of you and maybe we'll be able to help you with your food cost or help you find a doctor or something of that nature.

Um it's a great idea.

We'd be happy to talk about it all day long.

Um it's yeah.

Happy to share any success stories.

Yeah, and I think that you we could like you said, even we even if we not addressing or I pointing out specific individuals, but just you know what similar to what you've got, you know, what you've got here in this report, you know.

I mean, you know, publish it.

How do we publish it, make it available, promote it, and say, hey, you know, here's you know, here's some data, you know, that yes, this is you know, our program and refresh my memory, how old is this is.

I don't think it's all that old January 23.

Okay.

So to say, hey, this is what we've accomplished so far.

I think in the presentation we had in pre-council, there's actually, you know, this year's budget.

We've got a couple more people for the program.

Again, you know, to celebrate it.

So how you know how can we promote that?

You know, flyer in a utility bill, you know, the newsletter that we get in, you know, with the utility bill, a link, you know, to the website, you know, and how we can again celebrate a success.

Great idea.

Thank you.

Any other council comments?

Yeah, Betsy.

Yes, my comment would be um sort of to Don's point, maybe not the specific people, but this is a program we have that appears to be doing some good.

So maybe talking to Sydney or somebody not I'm not sure how much your department does your own PR work or how much Sydney is responsible for that.

But it seems like in the city that we should be able to get some information out about that this program is here, it's been established for two years.

This is what we've been able to we I like that we're well, we that you've been able to establish that the the group, you know, the citizen, uh, the staff working and the citizens working together, you know, that this is something we should let people know about.

So I'm not sure it needs to come out of your department exactly, but I'm gonna push it to to Carlin's.

So I might also make the recommendation, you know, we receive a lot of emails as council members uh on on the daily, some apparently more than others.

Betsy's like, I never's gonna I encourage everyone to email Ward6 at Como.gov because she doesn't get enough emails.

But I am retired, so I'm I think you know, I um I appreciated the timing of this um report because I had received an email.

I think it was on one of Don's residents in Ward 5, and I was able to point to this report because they're asking, what are you doing about connecting people to services?

What are you doing about this?

And I was like, well, how timely.

I have a very long report that I can share with you, as well as the website that the city has put together on homeless services, what we're doing, what our current efforts are.

And so I think for all of us to always remember to to point to people when they email us about this issue to to cite this.

So I appreciate you providing it and it being very timely for me responding to that.

Good, good.

So that's my ask for my fellow council members too.

Oh yeah, Jackie, really quick.

Again, echo everything.

But I also, because you need more to do, um, would encourage any opportunity to share this outside of Columbia as well, because I am sure there are other communities that have the same struggles and what a wonderful thing for Columbia to be able to be a pilot uh a model program to for them to base their practice off of.

Yeah, that's a great idea.

You should apply for the MML uh Trailblazers award that we just received for our energy efficiency last year from MML.

We could apply for this one for 2026.

So encouraging, you know, and more things to do.

Right.

Yeah.

I appreciate it.

Thank you.

Thank you, Rebecca.

All right.

Now moving on to general comments.

Does anyone from the public wish to speak?

Tracy Wilson Cleekamp.

Um I wanted to say about the Divert Report.

It seems to me that it is a ripe document for qualitative research.

Nick's wife can give us some uh tips there.

She's very good at that.

Um, but I I'm thinking about governing magazine.

I'm thinking about Route 50.

I'm thinking about uh the other ways that other cities are working and working collaboratively, and I think the story is not so much celebrating success, but celebrating collaboration and teamwork and what it looks like to do these things uh in a collective effort.

So I think that's really important.

Um a couple of the other things I wanted to bring up, and I I know this is a touchy subject, and I sort of glean this from looking through the mayor's emails.

I I don't like this idea that we did not stop to start talking about um homelessness and crime until Ayana Williams was killed.

I do not like this narrative.

It's false.

Your emails, Mayor Buffalo, start in January of 2025 saying these are the things we're doing, and we need to do a better job of publicizing what we are doing.

That happened way before then.

So somehow this man this this narrative is really mangled, and we're using this black woman's body as a weapon, a political weapon for a false narrative.

And I I would really like it to stop.

So I would really like for you to say that's not actually not true.

I have all these emails that shows that I have been emailing and talking to constituents and saying this is what we're doing about homelessness, this is what we're doing about crime, and we have this programming in place.

I might think it's really unfair to the family to see their daughter's name continually show up in the public sphere in the way that it has.

I think it's disgusting.

Um the last thing I wanted to bring up was um at the end of the council retreat, there was a little bit of a dialogue about something I didn't understand, and I didn't see it in the um uh the the downtown report, which is also pretty cool.

And there was some question about an entertainment district, and um Mr.

Seawitt said he talked to Nikki about downtown reviewing their master plan and to have a conversation about it.

Maybe there's some things that they can get from an entertainment district that will help with enforcement.

So uh you have a really soft voice, and so when you go to transcribe, it's a little bit uh difficult to pick up.

So I wondered if you could get some context to that um to that um to that conversation in particular, um, because I did not see that um in the um downtown report.

And I think that's it.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Anyone else from the public wish to speak?

Eugene Elkin second ward.

Trying to keep up with the latest style of getting here to the podium.

I realize you all have probably been here, but I want to say a big thank you.

You have now showed yourselves to provide many, many services toward our homeless.

This reference is what just happened this weekend.

A lady had come in from Venezuela.

She was the only one to be able to escape.

She was one of our homeless.

Maybe it's been a year and a half, two years ago.

She got hurt.

But again, I do not know the rest of the story, but I'm saying let's hope she has the ability to go home to freedom that she found in America where Columbia, Missouri took good care of her.

Let's hope that all comes to be.

Parking meters.

I know you probably already passed this, but I was wondering if you should consider it for future.

We're having larger and larger expenses everywhere.

Parking meters being raised to a dollar during the nine-month school year might be a new consideration for the locals, might want to pay a little less when summer comes, because you're not really trying to raise revenue.

You're just trying to keep up with cost of matching the college campus.

That is an area no one ever stops to think of.

Maybe this could be on the nine-month school year and three months of a reduced cost for the public to benefit going downtown.

We should be starting to talk in the area of affordability, low, medium, and high.

I'm gonna consider myself a low-income person.

I've told you I've been on disability since 1999.

93.

And in that reference, when he you've asked many times tonight, how can we get started?

How about income per square mile here in the city?

Are these a lot of houses with higher income with one or two medium?

Or is it all three areas of high, medium, and low, which are very beneficial in the growth of cities.

Another thing is postage stamps.

They're getting closer to that one dollar.

How many more things can the fixed income person take for tonight's message?

I may be seeing the very largest increase in my rent, and that's in a mobile home.

That's not good news for the city.

It's very sad that persons are going to have to start asking for help when they wouldn't have had to without this super high increase.

Thank you.

Thank you, Dean.

Would anyone else from the public wish to speak?

Oh, kinda.

My name is John Shin.

I live at 4408 Kingston Heath in the Brooks subdivision.

I want to address the Ashford Place development.

At Planning Commission, we brought more than 80 plus people in opposition to that.

I don't believe Planning Commission was properly informed of what's going on.

Especially my last four pages I sent in two weeks ago.

So what I see is a development being put in a density in the middle of a subdivision that is inappropriate by far, creates all the traffic hazards and safety issues that were previously discussed at Planning Commission.

We were completely ignored.

There are a procedural issue in when tract five was subdivided into four separate tracks.

So you have a procedural issue that's 16 years in the making.

This needs to be addressed.

I'll let you read that.

I would admonish you to read those that documentation.

I don't know the planning commission did, but I would certainly appreciate if you would.

Aside from everything else, that part of town needs the 10-acre park that's promised.

And I can guarantee you that in the tracks that are left, those developers aren't going to build at 300 units.

They're going to stop at 299, so they don't have to provide the 10-acre park.

I would.

If I was a developer, I'd be looking at this going, hey, I can make some money here.

Why should I donate 10 acres of land that's worth $500,000 and not provide the 10-acre park?

So somebody 16 years ago negotiated the 10-acre park to be provided.

I want to know where it went.

I want to know why it was the public interest was not addressed or affected in this matter.

Sorry if I'm a little bit nervous.

But this is an issue that's close to my heart.

I hike and bike the trails here everywhere.

Ride a bicycle, part of the group, clean the trails, help with that.

Aside from that, let's get the panhandlers off the middle of the street with their dogs.

Sitting at an intersection asking for money.

I give them money, but they need to take the dog away.

All right, thank you.

Thank you.

Would anyone else from the public wish to speak?

Good evening.

My name is Cherry Haupt.

I live at 1224 Shore Acre Sloop.

I want to thank you all for your service.

It's thankless job, I understand.

Yeah, I'm also speaking to the Ashless Ashland Place development being proposed.

And I do feel that the planning of zoning commission, you know, has given waivers to certain issues.

It really that they shouldn't have given waivers to in the first place.

Um that area of the city at one time wanted a 10-acre park towards the east of the of town, you know.

And if this area gets developed fully, there will be no, you know, I'll say large area straight east of a town to do that.

You know, so it's gonna be kind of a death by a thousand cuts, you know, never one.

But well, this development taking one piece and this development taking another piece, and this final development taking, and now there's not going to be a park, you know, as John said, the the last developer is not going to build the 300 unit that will only be 299, and boom, the the city and the citizens will have lost the ability to have a park on the east side.

Um I also want to briefly speak about the density issue.

Uh this density issue of Ashram Place is being brought up as saying, well, there's only about 3.1 units per acre.

Now, if you look at all right, the total thing there is 24 acres.

You know, they're only building on eight acres.

They're building on eight acres, which really means it's a little over nine units per acre, and all the rest of this stuff is is um the grindstone creek and and the trail and everything else.

So that there I really feel that they are hiding behind legalese with the with the proposed development here.

Uh and lastly, I guess I want to make kind of an an analogy about Ashland place.

I really feel that if this thing gets approved, then it's going to be like wearing a Calospy bag forever.

All right, forever.

All right.

It it's not going to be able to be fixed once it's attached.

The medical industry has the ability to remove GLOSPY bags, all right.

You won't if you approve this.

Okay.

We're not naive enough to say it was never going to be approved or something developed, but let's make it done the right way and not have a colossally bag attached to the city.

Thank you.

Thank you very much.

Would anyone else from the public wish to speak?

All right.

We'll go to council comments.

We'll start with Betsy.

I know you thought I was going to say I had nothing to say, but that's not true tonight.

Oh, okay.

You're changing your email address.

Uh yeah, no, no.

I'm I'm happy to get emails.

Um first I wanted to comment on the weekend, um, which saw our police department and our fire department and all of our first responders, I think probably stretched quite thin.

And I wanted to thank them for their service.

Um for the uh amount of time that that they spent for the training that you provided to the young police officers that I understand were involved, and for the support that our fire department could give.

Um I am sorry that we all needed to use our expertise this weekend, but I'm happy that we had it available.

Um then to something a little easier.

Um I noticed that the streets over at East Campus are getting swept this last week, and I wanted to thank um our public works department because um I'd asked them to do that when there were no students around.

Therefore, there are no cars around.

So they're able to do an excellent job.

And those of us that live there all the time uh appreciate that.

So I wanted to comment that we noticed.

Um the next thing is um I know I probably think all of us have probably gotten an email about um Kenny Green and the potential to name the Or Street Park in his name.

Um I think that would probably be a good idea.

What I took it as is something we need to let Parks and Rec know about.

I'm sure we need to have public comments and you know, public hearings or whatever, interested parties meetings, I guess is the proper one, um, to see if anyone else has any other ideas or recommendations.

Um I would hope that we would just add that into the the conversation for um what to name that park.

Um let's see, what else did I have?

I think the last one was um reading the paper, which I know is old-fashioned, but I do it anyway.

Um I noticed that Eldon, Missouri has been having a problem with their water for the last three weeks at least, um, apparently with E.

coli contamination, and I'm not sure if I think that's the main issue.

Um so it made me wonder.

I know that we monitor our water here um very frequently, um, but I wondered exactly what we did to sort of look at that.

So I know I asked you if Aaron or someone could speak to that when it comes to staff comments just to get an idea of what it is we actually do to make sure our water stays safe.

Yes, Aaron, be prepared for that.

That's it.

Yeah, too.

Thank you.

Valerie.

Yeah.

Betsy and I had similar notes for today.

Okay.

Yeah, the passing is of Kenny Green came as a shock to me because he's been such a staple in the downtown leadership and arts scene for so long.

Um who's absolutely a delightful person and has always been kind and just has this personality that's so remarkable.

Um be terribly missed in our community.

Um I wanted to remark as well about the incidents of gun violence that occurred this weekend.

Um both incidents very troubling and the proximity of one after another.

Um it's jarring.

Um I'm so thankful to our police and our firefighters, the first responders who responded to this issue.

I'm thankful to the neighboring cities that also provided um response corresponding to the shooting at Clerk Lane.

Um troubled by incidents of domestic violence and how it affects all of us, um, how it affects the community at large and the need for mental health resources and preventative measures.

Um I I also thought that it was very timely to be reviewing the um paramedic program and giving them um tools that they need to be able to provide those life-saving services on the scene.

Ums of life is a tragedy to us.

Um in the same breath that we're mourning that, I also want to acknowledge that the communication that we had from city staff and the city manager's office directly after those two incidents has improved dramatically.

Um, and I really appreciate the effort that was put in to building a to give us the most up-to-date information that we can get as soon as possible.

Um I know these situations are always unfolding, and you don't want to tell us something wrong too soon.

Um the flip side is it's really jarring to find out this information from social media or from a community member or a reporter, um, and also have wrong information.

Um I appreciate every update that we get.

Um thank you for building that response.

Mira, anything.

Um echoing my fellow council members, I want to um first offer a huge thank you to all of our first responders who have um responded to some uniquely tragic events, not only this weekend, but in the past week weeks we have seen some horrible tragedies in our community.

Tragedies that have affected our youth, tragedies that have affected our unhoused population, um, tragedies that truly deeply touch every part of our community.

Um on the flip side of that today, we got to hear about some of the incredible services that our community offers and will be expanding and offering more of in the future to serve people and to attempt to step in and prevent some of these tragedies in the future.

Um we heard that we often get the question of what are you doing in the face of all of this?

Um and so the opportunity to say, here it is, this is what we are doing, this is what we have been doing, this is what we want to continue to do and do better in the future is incredible.

In this last week, um I also recently spoke at a community event about the feeling of hopelessness that we can all get in the face of these huge, tragic issues when they feel all-encompassing, when they feel bigger than us than when they feel like something we can't fix.

And I spoke about the power of getting involved in your local community where you truly can make a difference, where you truly can see fixes happen locally.

And that is true of every single person in our community.

It is not something that you have to be sitting up on this dais to help out in.

This year I got to partake in one of my favorite accidental traditions I have created where I use my time off during the holiday season to give back to my community as much as possible.

This year I got to help at Como Mobile Aid Collective's Foot Fest, which has become two of my favorite days of the year, helping to serve our unhoused community and providing joy, a warm place, and warm dinner in a difficult and cold time of the year.

I also spent some hours serving at the food bank, packaging food, sorting expired goods, and cleaning up some waste that was left behind.

There are so many opportunities like that here in Columbia where you can have a direct impact on your community and your neighbors where you can truly, truly um serve the people that it can feel like you have no impact on.

So I just like to remind people that there is there is always a way that you can help in your community, and there is always an active service that is available and accessible to you.

And if you have questions about finding one that works for you, I am happy to help connect you.

Becky, anything?

Yeah, just a few things.

Um I'm also wanting to comment on the events that happened over the weekend.

Um we have received emails from various people in the community with specific concerns regarding flock cameras, um, how the data is used, how it is stored, and why those are are valid questions, and I think important for continued discussions.

I think it is equally important to make sure that people are aware that the incident that happened at the Broadway shops that uh perpetrator was caught because of the utilization of the flock cameras.

So I just want to make sure that that is um shared and people are realize that that tool has helped in that particular situation.

Um additionally, the the shooting death that had happened this weekend did occur in Ward 3.

Um I don't really know what to say about that.

I think any time we have a shooting death in the city, it's upsetting.

Um I've been I I really don't know if I have the words for it.

It's just it's very upsetting to me.

I can tell you, I am gonna again think the first responders.

Um I did do my write-along on New Year's Eve with the Columbia Police Department, and it was fantastic.

All the officers I interacted with were professional and um really did a nice job.

And I have to say, I think I think why this has affected me so much is um when I was doing my write-along, we responded to the same area where this shooting happened.

And all that was going through my head when I heard about that was oh my gosh, is it the same people that I saw on New Year's Eve?

And I don't think it was, but I'm pretty sure it was not.

But um, it's it's unnerving and it makes me sad.

And so I'm I'm hopeful that as a community we can pull together and figure out what we need to do through the Office of Violence Prevention and also through and with our first responders to make sure that we can more successfully address the gun violence where as well as working on our legislative priorities at a state level.

Um, we need to come at this from multiple angles.

There's not a single solution.

If there was, it would have been done by now.

So enough of that.

Question I had for um DeCarlin.

Um the work session that we have next week on the pedestrian safety ordinance.

That's next Monday, right?

Um, would it be possible for the council to receive any communication that's come from the commissions if it has been received at that point?

That way we have that information prior to our work session.

So if you if it has been submitted, if we could get that before Monday, I'd appreciate that.

Um and then I just wanted to bring up the question too of um the housing stock affordable housing inventory.

Do we have a discussion or a work session on that planned at any time outside of what was with the county discussion?

Because it's gonna keep coming up every time we have an SDR discussion.

And I, you know, is that something that we need to get on our calendar to to decide are we gonna cap it?

Are we gonna max it?

Or you know, we're not two questions.

Um definition of affordable housing or STR cap.

Both.

Both all of the above.

Yeah.

I know one of our hopes for the next meeting with the county was it not to just be going through the crosswalk, but maybe more of a deeper dive into one of those.

So maybe that could be part of that discussion when we talk about especially the definition.

Yeah.

Is there anything that was a city that we can do in addition to what we're doing with the county, I think is my question.

I think so.

I think the um the county is just kind of the touch point on what we're doing, but I think to this point, having a special one just especially on what we're talking about for affordable housing.

Follow-up to that one is in the housing study, remind me, did they do an assessment, an inventory assessment, or was that one of the suggestions?

I thought they did an assess inventory.

There was some assessment.

And that's where I mean it but that's where yeah, that's where the goals come from in terms of the kinds of housing that we need and so forth.

And I think you know, uh that was done in consultation with our housing department.

Yes.

So there is there is an assessment done on some of the property.

I don't I can't tell you to the specificity of that assessment.

I'm not sure how granular it gets.

Right.

But it's but we do look at the number of housing.

We look at the number of the housing stock, we'll look at the availability.

So there that is a recorded.

Um I think Jackie's question is is is kind of are you asking kind of is it potential for us to have a work session on housing specifically in the light of affordable housing.

I think it's important that we have that discussion.

So when we're looking at STR approvals, we can keep that a separate discussion.

Because it's a very important discussion, but it's not it's not directly related to STR approvals.

Right.

Yeah, we can schedule that with the at this point.

We'll we'll look look outward and see exactly when we can plan it in.

Thank you.

All right.

Nick.

Uh I'll add my thanks to folks in public safety for their responses over the weekend.

These are these are moments when I'm not so sure I really enjoy having insider information and advanced information about things that go on in the city and the these tragedies that take place.

But I'm really grateful for our people who respond so professionally.

I wanted to say a couple more things about the divert program.

It really is a success story.

It's one of those things we need to point out.

It's an innovative program.

And it's the kind of thing that's being done because we're because I think staff feels empowered to make these kinds of things and and to and to advance these kinds of uh possibilities and try something new.

And we're seeing success in this case.

One of the things we've talked about in the past is to be willing to try something and fail if we feel like it could be worthy.

In this case, we've tried something and it's succeeding very well.

Um I think it also shows the value of case management.

It really is about whether or not we're going to provide the resources that are necessary to help people move into a better place in their lives.

Uh we did talk about this, by the way, at Let's Talk Local in December.

So, you know, everybody was invited.

Um I was grateful to hear JD it at that at that event, uh talking about what happened there.

And I really encourage people if you if you haven't members of the council to visit the community support docket uh and to watch what happens as Judge knows uh has interactions with people who come before him and then uh encourages them to meet with Janie and with JD and others.

Uh and you see that happening immediately.

Uh it's really encouraging.

I also want to say a quick word about Kenny Green.

Um we have people who pass in this community on a regular basis.

Um is special in that he really is leaving a legacy, I think, immediately of uh his impact on things like the gateway at Providence and Broadway about his work to bring about what happened and what is going to happen at the park on Orr Street in the North uh village North Arts district.

And so I'm going to miss him.

Uh Kenny was just a really cool guy.

And I was always grateful to run across him and to just talk for a few minutes.

He was also very generous, by the way.

And I I went into his shop one time with my daughter who had a necklace that being had uh belonged to her grandmother, and she wore it.

But in the wearing of it, the chain had gotten tangled and messed up.

So I I took it to Kenny with with her, and we said, what can we do with this?

And he said, I'll just trade with you.

And he gave us a new chain and took the one that was all tangled.

Um and didn't ask for anything in the way of payment.

Um I think it showed up in his commitment to the community.

I'm really grateful for Kenny and we'll miss him.

Done well, I know it's January 5th, but uh happy new year.

So is here and we have started off a lot of our discussion tonight is actually touched on some of our major issues that we're gonna be dealing with this year and probably not finished by next January, but um, we talk about budget, we had our pre-council, you know, our priorities, public safety, housing, how are we going to address housing information that we need.

Council is going to be seeing some new changes in city staff.

Uh the second Monday of the month work sessions uh to give us a chance to discuss some things outside of this, but discuss it in the council as a whole.

Um I also want to acknowledge uh and thank the first responders for the their responses to the incidents.

Um everything I've heard, it was uh uh fast and efficient response.

Uh it's also good to see that some of our investments that we've made, such as Flock and some of the other things, uh assisted in uh quick resolution.

Um the incidents.

Um couple of mentions have been made about Kenny Green.

I did not have the pleasure of meeting him, but uh it sounds like uh my misfortune for not meeting him and getting to know him.

So but uh like I said, 2026 is off and running and uh mayor, hand it off to you.

Thanks, Don.

Um well, I think everyone has echoed the um appreciation for first responders over the weekend.

Um you know, I think Jackie, to your point about the flock camera system, you know, it reminded me when we were talking about um who owns the data and the transparency of it.

My appreciation for us having that policy in place about who has the actions to it, and we have if anyone's interested, Como.gov, go to the police's website, they have a thing on the license plate readers that talks about what what our role is and who owns that data.

Um, because I appreciate we do have restrictions on where that data can be used.

Uh so some of the concerns that you see happening in like Washington State and Oregon would not ours is not um, ours would not be affected by that.

Um by that said, to see it being used, see see the investment being used, not just the incident over the weekend, but last week when we had the abduction, or I guess two weeks ago now, um, it being utilized to to resolve that um too quickly and just appreciation for that as well.

Um to my point with the Kenny Green, um, I had a similar story.

I didn't get a free chain out of it.

Uh so now no, I'm just kidding.

Then but having something that I had a family earrings and Kenny um repaired them um better than they were originally, which I would not tell my family.

So do not pass that along.

Um but one acknowledgement I'll have is that um you know Kenny served on the committee that helped us with the fundraising and the advocacy for making the former Amran site to be the park.

And in fact, Kenny is who suggested the name, the North Village Park.

And so I think whether it's uh a renaming or acknowledging some part of the public art that's gonna eventually go there with Kenny Green will be in in his spirit in his light.

Um, because I agree that he did.

Any interaction you had with him was a joyful one.

So having that continue on, I I imagine we'll hear something soon from Parks on potential opportunities to recognize his impact um as the unofficial mayor of North Village Arts District, as he let me know.

Um I did want to also uh make comment that um this afternoon the city manager and the police chief and I had an opportunity to meet with Governor Keho about the opportunity uh that council has been asking for for making sure that data related to safety and crime in Columbia um is shared and that the resources are coming from Columbia Police Department.

And so I was appreciative of that opportunity with the governor and with us to to share that data for the police chief to give that, as well as advocate for our community values and the ways that we could see state support from this.

Uh and so as this incident over the weekend showed, you know, we have questions about minors in possession of firearms and what can we do to advocate for um a non-gray area, but to be clear.

And it's very similar to our strategic priorities that we have set as council.

And so the opportunity to bring those up um with the governor's office, uh, just ways that could help us um and help our police department do their job effectively and efficiently.

Uh appreciate the opportunity.

I hope we can continue to have those conversations uh for Columbia's values to be recognized as we talk about um safety in our community.

So with that, I'll go to staff comments.

I believe we have a couple of requests.

I imagine we'll hear later on about the North Village Art, but probably not this evening, but the water quality, I think that Aaron might be prepared for.

Yes.

Aaron Keys, Utilities Director.

As we all know, safe drinking water is essential for our community with the recent boil order in Eldon.

And by Betsy's request, I want to provide some information on what we do for our water quality.

Our staff work around the clock to ensure quality drinking water reaches all of our customers, and we do that in a number of ways.

First, we test our drinking water wells, which is our source water.

It's tested for coliform, E.

coli, and heterotrophic plate counts, which my understanding from Google is those are live microorganisms that aren't specifically pathogens but could affect our water quality.

These tests are performed monthly at our drinking water wells.

Second, we feed chlorine for disinfection of the water during the treatment process.

We continuously monitor that chlorine residual throughout the plant using online chlorine probes.

With the plant upgrades, each of the basins now will have its own probe to monitor that chlorine residual, and that's tied to SCADA so our operators can't keep track of that more easily.

And it allows us to have better monitoring of what's taking place in each individual basin.

Additionally, during the treatment plant process, every two hours, the operators take grab samples.

And if that's not the case, then they start doing calibration checks on the probes to ensure that they are the continuously monitoring correctly.

And next, chlorine is also monitored on top of the filters every two hours and continuously on the finished water before the addition of ammonia for the chloramine formation.

Both South and West Ash pump stations have continuous monitoring equipment for the chlorine residual, and that's displayed and recorded on SCADA so that our water operators can see that.

Third, we regularly test our distribution system for what's called total coliform, which is kind of an indicator for pathogens or potential pathogens.

The city has 42 routine sampling locations throughout our entire water distribution system.

Due to the size of our system, we are required to submit 100 sample results per month to Missouri Department of Natural Resources.

There's some flexibility within our 42 routine sample locations, but typically we sample each of those locations about three times a month so that we basically exceed the 100 samples per month.

For comparison, Eldon is only required to submit five samples per month due to their system size.

The distribution testing is a two-step process.

So in the event that there was a total coliform positive sample, the laboratory must perform a repeat sample at that location as well as upstream and downstream locations within 24 hours of the positive result.

These upstream and downstream locations are within five service lines, and also all these locations are on file with Missouri Department of Natural Resources as part of our sampling plan.

In the event of a second positive total coliform, then an E.

coli analysis is performed.

And for any E.

coli positive sample, the laboratory is required to notify Missouri Department of Natural Resources and then conduct the same repeat sampling process.

So there's a lot of sampling, a lot of testing.

You might ask how does this occur?

How does these contaminants get into the system?

Water main breaks are one of the more common ways that contaminants are introduced into the distribution system.

Water staff have procedures for repairs and disinfection practices and notification of adjacent property owners.

The samples are once they're completed fixing the main break, they take samples and flush the line with chlorine residual and analyze the samples to ensure that it's safe for drinking.

Part of this process is why we have what's called a boil advisory, and that's out of precaution because it takes a period of time to complete the analysis of these samples.

So until we have the analysis back, we advise those that are affected to to boil water.

This is different than what DNR has issued in Eldon, which is a boil order.

So there is a difference between an advisory and an order.

So typically what we issue is an advisory.

Think of like irrigation systems, uh large commercial properties, typically have uh backflow devices.

Uh staff uh works to ensure that uh those are in proper working order.

Uh there are certifications required, so that's part of what water staff does as well.

And then another way for E.

coli to be introduced into the system is deferred maintenance uh on our towers and reservoirs.

Um think about bug screens, overflows, hatches, all those need to be checked routinely.

Staff has identified some deferred maintenance that they are working to improve.

Um that takes time and money, but we are working to improve those things.

Uh meanwhile, production staff is working very hard to ensure quality drinking water to our customers while undergoing a major construction project.

Uh if you've ever been around major construction, there's always something that happens that's not per plan.

Uh our staff has uh very, well, I should say multiple times over the last year, they've had to be very flexible and creative uh to work with the construction that's been occurring to ensure that quality water is provided to our customers, and I'm thankful we've been able to do that to this point, and kudos to them.

Um these are only some of the tests that are performed on our drinking water.

The water quality report that's provided to every customer in the summer and available on our website lists all of the other uh water quality tests that are performed.

Uh these are just I just describe these in relation to what's going on in Eldon.

Uh so we want to ensure that our water is safe for our customers to consume.

And if you're interested in EPA fact sheets or Columbia's December results of our distribution system testing, then if you let me know, I can provide those.

Thank you, Erin.

Any follow-up questions to that, Betsy?

Betsy's like, nope, I'm good.

I think that was pretty thorough.

Thank you.

Well, you wanted it short, but it was difficult to make that short.

It was thorough, so I appreciate that.

Thank you, Erin.

Uh DeCarlin, any other staff updates, staff comments?

No, just that uh I appreciate the comments on innovation.

No, looking at our divert program, looking at the paramedic program, it's an opportunity for us to try things to make sure we're doing it right before we do it.

And I think staff has really embrace innovation, collaboration to really try to make sure that as we're bringing things forward, it's brought forth in a sound manner and that we're testing things out correctly.

Appreciate that.

Nancy, anything?

She anything?

All right, I'll go ahead and adjourn us at 9 54.