Columbia city council historic run-off election set for Tuesday

COLUMBIA, Mo. (KMIZ)

Tuesday's primaries include a special election for the City of Columbia for the first time in the city's history.

Candidates Roy Lovelady and incumbent Karl Skala are competing for the Ward Three seat after they tied in April. Back in April, the Ward three candidates tied with 1,102 votes each. Ward Three covers much of northeast Columbia.

The candidates hope the special election tomorrow will finally decide who gets the Third Ward seat. Their messages haven't changed, but some of their campaign efforts have.

Ward Three incumbent Karl Skala

Skala said he's worked harder in this campaign than he did in the last, and that he "won't take this one for granted."

Skala currently has the seat and has served four terms on the city council. He says he is most proud of his community outreach through the Saturday office hours he's hosted since 2007.

"It's the ones you don't agree with, that you have to make some sort of compromise with, that makes the difference," said Skala.

Skala says his priorities for a new term include reviewing the new city budget, factoring climate change into the budget, and equity for all. "I think we need to focus on some of the underserved, but not to the exclusion of any particular group," said Skala.

Skala also said he wants to discuss with the council reimplementing a pilot program that brought city police officers and social workers into neighborhoods. He says before it was discontinued, "the program made a lot of progress", and he is talking with the City Manager about reimplementing it.

Ward Three candidate Roy Lovelady

Lovelady said that he continued to use his strategy of knocking on doors and getting people registered to vote because it worked. "Hence a tie with an incumbent," Lovelady said.

Lovelady said that it's no secret he doesn't have experience on City Council, but he has gotten involved at council meetings as a business owner and community activist.

In 2019, Lovelady and several others founded the People's Defense, a non-profit that he said helped feed the homeless and find lawyers for people experiencing injustices.

Lovelady said he is honest, but most of all new, innovative and daring. He said, "It's time for a change. Change is now."

Lovelady said his first priority is to listen to the people and learn before addressing issues like homelessness, equitable zoning, and crime.

He said, "Crime is everywhere inside Columbia," and he wants to work with the community and the council to make sure they address crime unbiased and effectively.

Both candidates said they are hoping to win but will stay involved with the community and the council no matter what.

Voting starts tomorrow, August 2. To find out if you live in Ward three, you can use the interactive map on the City of Columbia's website.