Columbia leaders meet, discuss ‘brand’ for city

An informal group of Columbia city leaders met Friday morning, talking about ways to move Columbia forward, spurring economic development, and creating a “brand” for the city.

Representatives from Boone County, city of Columbia, Columbia Chamber of Commerce, Columbia Public Schools, and the University of Missouri attended the meeting. The group has no formal leadership and meets quarterly at various locations.

Rusty Strodtman, general manager of the Columbia Mall and also chairs the Columbia Chamber of Commerce, led Friday’s meeting.

“The five more critical components of our community are working together,” Strodtman said. “We are trying to be collaborative in our efforts, strategic with a lot of focus, and we are really trying to move Columbia in a positive direction.”

Stordtman started the meeting describing a recent leadership visit he and other area leaders took to Fort Collins, Colorado. They have also taken trips to Gainesville, Florida and Knoxville, Tennessee.

Strodtman said they try to visit towns of similar size and with similar circumstances. All three cities visited are college towns of similar population size. On the trips, Strodtman said they will discuss with the local leaders different issues like economic development, education, public transportation, and similar topics, to see how those cities improved and see if any of those practices would work in Columbia.

A big topic in the meeting was creating a “brand” for Columbia.

“We felt it was important for Columbia to kind of come around a brand,” Strodtman said. “We wanted a foundation we could all come around and support no matter if you’re in the civic arena, private, a citizen, and be able to speak the same message for when visitors come and see us, we’re all speaking the same message.”

The group also discussed ways it can influence change on Interstate 70. Using their Fort Collins trip as an example, they discussed the traffic issues Columbia and surrounding cities and counties have with congestion along the I-70 corridor.

“The state of Missouri doesn’t really know how to fix that problem,” Strodtman said. “We’re not totally for sure on how to fix that problem, but we’re willing to try to help solve that and we want to be at the table. And we think Columbia and Boone County, being at the center [of the corridor] and being one of the larger cities and counties on the I-70 corridor, we can be the leader and maybe even try to help solve some of the road transportation issues for the state of Missouri.”

There was also an update on the Columbia Regional Airport. Stacey Button, director of economic development for Columbia, and Tamara Pitts, airport manager, spoke about the latest work being done the two runways and the new terminal project.

Buttons said one of the current concerns with the airport is becoming ADA compliant. Future needs for the airport include more airlines and destination options, runway and terminal expansion.

The airport has been granted more than $11 million for construction on one of their two runways. That runway, 13-31, is currently the smaller of the two and will be made longer, wider, and stronger to accommodate larger aircraft. Completion for 13-31 is expected in summer 2017.

The airport has plans to also redo its main runway, 2-20, which is currently utilized by American Airlines aircraft. American Airlines aircraft, and any larger planes needing to land, will use the newly reconstructed runway, 13-31.

According to Pitts, the Federal Aviation Administration requires airports to finish all pavement projects before moving on to anything money generating, like new terminals.

“The terminal project is down the line but we are taking steps to make sure everything is in place so design can begin as soon as possible,” Pitts said.

The completion of the new terminal is estimated to be around 2021.

The possibility of more airlines and/or more destination possibilities is also a few years into the future Pitts said.

“Right now the airport is operating at capacity,” Pitts said.

However, Pitts said the talks to bring in new airlines has to begin soon to make sure everything is in line and goes smoothly once the new terminal project gets going.

“Conversations and thoughts are in process right now but nothing is definite, nobody is signing on the dollar line,” Pitts said. “At this point no one is committed to coming to COU but we are thinking on how we are going to tackle that task that we have.”