A plan for major improvements to Columbia Regional Airport headlines the local agenda the Columbia Chamber of Commerce has set for 2018.
The agenda was unveiled at the chamber’s civic appreciation breakfast Wednesday at Stoney Creek Hotel and Conference Center. Jerry Dowell, director of government affairs at the chamber, was adamant about the need for improvements to the airport.
“It is a very old building, the access for people that have disabilities is limited,” Dowell said. “It is not a very efficient building. The way the terminal is set up is not efficient for TSA and other things. So it was identified that we needed essentially a brand new terminal.”
Planned projects at the airport are expected to cost about $38 million, according to previous Missourian reporting. In August 2016, Columbia residents voted in favor of an increased hotel tax to fund the work. Dowell said about $2.5 million in state funding has already been secured, and he expects the city to apply for federal money in the spring.
Dowell expects the federal government to chip in $20 million on the terminal while the city and state to contribute $10 million and $8 million to $10 million, respectively.
“The terminal project is well on its way to being complete,” he said.
The 2018 agenda also includes the development of “a comprehensive plan for public safety.” Dowell said community policing is a top priority.
“We have fewer officers than we should have on the streets for the size of the city that we have, so we need to increase the number of officers,” he said. “We need to work through some of the issues inside of different neighborhoods as well, so it needs to be all-inclusive.”
Dowell said the chamber of commerce will put forth its legislative priorities agenda in January. He hopes the city makes a greater effort to align its budget with the chamber’s priorities.
“I think having a more detailed budget process where you need to justify how you are spending money would be helpful,” he said. “I think it would help the City Council to be able to focus money that may be in other parts of the city to where they need to be in public safety and other areas.”
The five-part agenda also expresses the chamber’s desire to work with the council on ballot measures and to “support policies that encourage local private development of workforce and affordable housing.”
Supervising editor is Scott Swafford: swaffords@missouri.edu, 884-5366.