Daily Dish: Aug. 13, 2012

Here’s a rundown of stories about city and county government that made the news over the weekend.

Proposed historic district rules cause property rights worries

Jacob Barker of the Columbia Daily Tribune reports on the fledgling debate surrounding city-initiated historic property designations.

Stream team volunteers clean up trash in East Campus

Jennah Sontag of the Columbia Missourian details a city-sponsored effort to keep garbage out of streams.

Construction on new Greenbriar Trail to begin soon

KOMU-TV8 reports on the latest trail project in Columbia.

Missouri School of Journalism news outlets collaborate on new election-related website

Project Open Vault, a cooperative effort of KBIA 91.3, the Missourian, KOMU-TV8, Newsy.com and the Reynolds Journalism Institute will aggregate election news and track spending on televised political ads in central Missouri leading up to the November election.

 

 

 

Boone County Policy Makers Breakfast

Folgers got it all wrong. The best park of waking up isn’t coffee. It’s a Policy Makers Breakfast at the Boone County Commission Chambers.

Dan Atwill, Presiding Commissioner of Boone County, opened the meeting by explaining the purpose of this breakfast is to have a dialogue to work smoothly between the different officials in Boone County and Columbia.

The three commissioners of Boone County were in attendance. Including Skip Elkin, Boone County’s District II Commissioner, who is back from serving on active duty with the National Guard.  The breakfast club also included Columbia council members, the mayor, and school board members.

Most of the communication at the meeting involved the construction of infrastructure surrounding Battle High School. The property is in the county but the city is heavily involved. A current issue is the stoplight, now installed but not functioning, at St. Charles Rd. and Battle Ave. The stop light, which is in the county, falls under their control but the county does not have any equipment to maintain a traffic light. No decision was reached how maintenance for the light will be paid for.

Other infrastructure projects include the intersection of Highway Z and St. Charles Rd. where there are plans for the construction of a roundabout with the help of state funds. There was talk of an eventual bridge over I-70 at Olivette. A lot of this presents peculiar problems for Boone County, which never builds roads but just maintains them.

The search for property for a new elementary school in Southwest Columbia continues. Due to storm water regulations the parcel of land would need to be about 30 acres.

City Manager Mike Matthes spoke of how all the parking spaces are now leased in the 5^th and Walnut parking garage. He mentioned that since there is a demand it’s possible to raise prices. He also made a comment about the Columbia Regional Airport and how they are very close to some very exciting announcements. The members at the meeting concluded it would be a good idea to come try to make these meetings a quarterly occurrence.

The Daily Dish – May 11, 2012

Lawmakers send budget bills to Nixon By Rudi Keller, Columbia Daily Tribune

Missouri lawmakers approved a $24 billion state budget and sent it to Gov. Jay Nixon this week.

Columbia Planning and Zoning Commission recommends denying downtown rezoning request By Jaime Williams, Columbia Missourian

The Columbia Planning and Zoning Commission voted unanimously to recommend denying developers Jon and Nathan Odle a request to rezone property on the south side of Walnut Street.

Kelly says he didn’t trap fellow rep By Rudi Keller, Columbia Daily Tribune

State Rep. Chris Kelly denied that involvement in trapping fellow state Rep. Mary Still.

The Daily Dish — May 9, 2012

Columbia moving forward with tax-increment financing plans By Kip Hill, Columbia Missourian

The Columbia City Council voted to rescind a resolution that created an advisory board for the enhanced enterprise zone program.

Matthes seeks spending cuts to protect general fund By Andrew Denney, Columbia Daily Tribune

City Manager Mike Matthes said he wants city departments to cut spending to protect the general fund, which is about $78 million.

Spending compromise would boost funds for several colleges By Rudi Keller, Columbia Daily Tribune

State legislators have until 6 p.m. Friday to pass a deal that would divide $3 million among seven state colleges and universities appeared

The Daily Dish – May 8, 2012

$2 million for university ties up $24 billion Missouri budget plan, By David A. Lieb, The Associated Press

Disagreements between two members of the Missouri General Assembly over whether Southeast Missouri State University should receive a $2 million funding increase turned personal.

Columbia City Council discusses change to trash collection method, By Antony Lee, Columbia Missourian

The Columbia City Council discussed a potential move that would completely change the way residents throw away their trash during Monday’s pre-council meeting. If the move is approved, residents would use roll carts instead of plastic trash bags.

Budget talk on tap for mini-retreat at City Hall, By Andrew Denney, Columbia Daily Tribune

The Columbia City Council will begin a two-day mini-retreat Tuesday evening to start discussing the 2013 budget that will be proposed by City Manager Mike Matthes within the next few months.

The Daily Dish, May 7, 2012

Funding for veterans, blind health care in doubt in Missouri budget By Jason Hancock, The Kansas City Star

Arguments are made to discuss whether money should be spent for veterans, blind health care. If the Senate fails to approve a plan to fund Missouri’s veterans’ nursing homes it could mean the end of a health care program for the blind. The veterans legislation is one Senate vote away from being sent to the governor, but Senate President Pro Tem Rob Mayer, a Dexter Republican, said he won’t bring it up for a vote.

Transportation panel appointment is a return to public work for Jetton AUDIO By Mike Lear, Missourinet

A 21-member committee will hold meetings across the state this spring and summer looking into the future of transportation in Missouri. It also marks a return to public service for a former House Speaker a year after pleading guilty to assault. The Blue Ribbon Citizens Committee on Missouri Transportation Needs has been appointed by House Speaker Steven Tilley (R-Perryville), who wants it to look at the state’s transportation needs and look for solutions.

MSU leasing bill heads to Nixon’s desk for approval By Josh Nelson, News-Leader.com

A bill giving Missouri State University greater flexibility in leasing property is headed to Gov. Jay Nixon’s desk for approval. The Senate gave final approval last week to Senate Bill 562, and it reverses a 2011 law that requires Missouri State and seven other public universities to get prior approval from lawmakers when leasing property. It is said that the change makes it easier for Missouri State to develop areas like the Jordan Valley Innovation Center or the new Robert W. Plaster Center for Free Enterprise and Business Development.

The Daily Dish, May 6, 2012

Budget clock ticking; senate trouble threatened (AUDIO) By Bob Priddy, Missourinet

As our legislators return to Jefferson City, there’s only five days left to decide how to spend 24 billion dollars in te next fiscal year. House and Senate negotiators have to deal with some strongly-held positions taken by lawmakers in both chambers.  Some senators have wanted to tell their negotiators not to give in on three issues–two of them being budget cuts for Southeast Missouri State University advocated by Cape Girardeau Senator Jason Crowell.  St. Joseph Senator Rob Schaaf  has tried to force senate negotiators to refuse to discuss those issues. 

Minimum wage, payday loan petitions submitted for Missouri ballot, ByThe Associated Press

Supporters of raising Missouri’s minimum wage and limiting payday loans submitted petitions Sunday to get the separate measures on the November ballot, beating this weekend’s deadline to turn in signatures. The proposed minimum wage increase would put Missouri’s minimum pay at $8.25 an hour starting in 2013, with an annual cost-of living adjustment in subsequent years. If the federal minimum wage were to rise above the state rate, then Missouri would adopt the federal wage and apply cost-of-living adjustments to that.

 

The Daily Dish, May 5, 2012

Cigarette tax supporters turn in signatures By Rudi Keller, The Columbia Daily Tribune

Supporters of a proposal to increase the tax on cigarettes by 73 cents per pack collected 220,000 petition signatures yesterday in hopes of putting the measure on the November ballot. The proposal would generate $283 million to $423 million annually. Half the money would be used for public school programs, 30 percent would go to higher education and 20 percent would support smoking cessation programs.

Lawmakers consider Missouri fund for college building By Chris Blank, The Associated Press, The Kansas City Star

Missouri lawmakers are considering a new way to help pay for construction on college campuses. The proposal would create the Higher Education Capital Fund to provide state matching funds for local contributions for new higher education building projects. 

Impasse over Mo. budget with one week left to pass it By Marshall Griffin, St. Louis Public Radio

House and Senate budget negotiators remain at an impasse on what’s become the main barrier to reaching an agreement:  finding a way to fund veterans’ homes. The House this week passed legislation that would fund veterans homes with gaming revenues currently designated for early childhood programs, and replace it with money from a tobacco settlement.  The Senate has so far refused to take up the measure.  

The Daily Dish, May 4, 2012

Missouri governor candidate backs limits on lobbyist gifts By David A. Lieb, The Associated Press, Kansas City Star

Missouri gubernatorial candidate Dave Spence outlined an ethics proposal Thursday that would limit lobbyist gifts to public officials and require greater financial disclosure by nonprofit groups running ads in Missouri and companies seeking state contracts. The proposal would also require certain nonprofit groups who spend money in Missouri politics to file financial disclosure reports and mandate that companies seeking state contracts disclose the political contributions they have made in past three years.

Schaefer in the middle of state budget battle By Rudi Keller, The Columbia Daily Tribune

The state budget for next year is stalled because of an intramural struggle among Republicans that features testy exchanges between the House and Senate leadership and criticism of Sen. Kurt Schaefer from the man who put him in charge of the Senate’s budgeting team. The holdup comes from a mix of issues including a budget boost for one university, and a political attack on a program at the University of Missouri-St. Louis that has become tied to a bill dealing with how veterans programs are funded. How those negotiations are being handled sparked criticism of Schaefer, R-Columbia and Senate Appropriations Committee chairman, by Senate President Pro Tem Rob Mayer, R-Dexter. Mayer put Schaefer in charge of the appropriations committee last year.

 

Petition calls for cigarette tax hike By The Associated Press, Springfield News-Leader

Advocates submitted petition signatures on Friday to get a proposed increase in the state’s cigarette tax on the November ballot. The proposal would raise Missouri’s tax on cigarettes to 90 cents per pack up from the current 17 cents, which is the lowest in the nation.

The Daily Dish — May 3, 2012

City manager Mike Matthes reflects on his first year By Antony Lee, Jon Mcclure, The Columbia Missourian.

Tuesday is Matthes’ first anniversary in office as a city manager, and he reviewed several of his key initiatives for his first year, which includes Columbia regional airport, managing the city budget, strategic planing initiative, improving the Columbia Police Department, and improving the government’s customer service .

Changes to teacher layoffs OK’d by Missouri House By Chris Blank, The Associated Press, Kansas City Star

State House narrowly approved a legislation that would bar seniority from playing a role in Missouri teacher layoffs.Schools that are forced to reduce staff no longer would be banned from laying off tenures, and teachers’ seniority and salaries would not be a consideration in choosing teachers. Performance would need to be the most important factor when selecting which teachers to keep.

GOP incumbents face well-funded challengers By Rudi Keller, The Columbia Daily Tribune

The Boone County’s incumbent Republicans will face well-funded Democrats’ challenges for two first-term officeholders. State Sen. Kurt Schaefer, R-Columbia, state Rep. Mary Still, D-Columbia,  U.S. Rep. Vicky Hartzler and Democrat Teresa Hensley will file for the two seats.

T