Columbia city manager signs emergency declaration after Sunday storms
COLUMBIA, Mo. (KMIZ)
Columbia City Manager De'Carlon Seewood has signed an emergency declaration for the impacts of severe weather that hit the city on Sunday, according to a Monday press release from the city.
"In addition, operation of the bioreactor landfill shall be temporarily suspended along with operation of the Bioenergy Plant until such time as repairs to such facilities occur to ensure efficient and safe operation of the plant," the declaration reads. "Emergency clean-up operations shall commence at Cosmo Park and utility services restored in areas damaged by the severe weather event with the use of mutual aid as deemed necessary by the applicable department head."
City facilities and infrastructure were damaged, causing power outages and service disruptions, the release says. The city's recycling program is indefinitely suspended, the city said on Sunday, after its recycling facility was severely destroyed in the storm.
The National Weather Service determined the storm created an EF-1 tornado.
“It is pretty rare,” Seewood said when asked about signing the emergency declaration. “We saw significant damage. Our material recovery facility, which is our recycling facility, was completely destroyed.”
The City Council reviewed the declaration and voted on an ordinance that would support the measure during Monday night’s meeting.
During the meeting, Mayor Barbara Buffalo reminded residents that Tuesday was Earth Day and the phrase “reduce, reuse, recycle” has recycle at the end for a reason, emphasizing the need to cut down on waste as the city figures out how to get its recycling services up and running.
Rebuilding the facility could take more than a year, so the city could try to hire an outside service to handle recycling.
“We have to do really do an analysis, see exactly what is possible,” Seewood said. “We really need to take time to really figure out exactly what the plan is, how to move forward.”
The city is also temporarily closing its eight recycling drop-off centers, as are nearby towns that use Columbia’s recycling facility, such as Hallsville. However, there are some concerns that residents who ignore the closures could cause overflow, creating potential health and sanitation risks. The city is urging patience during this process.
“We're going to develop a plan and develop a process. But as we're developing this process, I'll just ask people to be patient,” Seewood said.
An evaluation done in 2023 found that the city's recycling plant was becoming outdated, and left the city missing out on money due to inefficiency.
Columbia’s Material Recovery Facility was built in 2002, which is one of the things that prompted the city to launch the study.
“It’s nearing the end of its useful life, a lot of the machinery is aging rapidly,” Columbia Utilities spokesman Matt Nestor told ABC 17 News last April.
The city was planning on building a new facility, but Seewood said the storm could expedite the process.
“We talked about doing a replacement of the Material Recovery Facility, and that was planned out for, I think 2027, 2028. And so that may speed that up,” Seewood said.
Two $1 million+ items pass the council
A $1.5 million project to pave the Columbia Regional Airport parking lot across the from the terminal was passed by the council on Monday night.
The City Council also approved a $1.7 million agreement for a beautification project at the Highway 63 connector bridge and St. Charles Road Bridge. That dollar amount will be split with the city, county, University of Missouri and other sources.
