Columbia City Council moves $1.5 million for south side salt storage facility; approves new radio agreement with county

COLUMBIA, Mo. (KMIZ)

The Columbia City Council on Monday approved a number of items, including the movement of funds.

The council last year authorized a call for bids to build a Municipal Services Center near the intersection of West Nifong Boulevard and Sinclair Road, just south of Mill Creek Elementary School.

Previous reporting shows the master concept plan includes a salt storage building, storage for snowplows and salt distribution equipment, vehicle parking, an office, electric vehicle charging stations and a refueling facility.

Documents for Monday’s meeting say, “The bids have come in and additional funds are needed to complete the work.”

The council will transfer $1.5 million from the Forum Boulevard Project to this project.

Street closures for new park

The council also unanimously approved closing a number of downtown sidewalks and lanes as crews work to build a new park at a former superfund site.

A sidewalk and parking lanes along Orr Street, St. James Street, Ash Street and Park Avenue will need to be closed through Nov. 27, council documents say.

The empty lot at Orr Street and Park Avenue used to be owned by Ameren. Previous reporting from 2023 says the site was determined to be a contaminated Superfund site and was cleaned up starting in 2014.

New radio system for police, fire, airport

The council will also approved an agreement with Boone County Joint Communications for its emergency services to partake in a radio upgrade.

Meeting documents say it is part of the county’s upgrade from “the legacy VHF radio system to a countywide interoperable 800 MHz Project 25 (P25) Phase 2 radio system.”

The Columbia Police Department will get 237 portable radio and 119 mobile radios. Meeting documents say that value of the equipment is around $2.5 million.

The Columbia Fire Department will receive 71 portable radios, 55 mobile radios, and 32 pagers valued around $1.28 million.

Columbia Regional Airport will get eight portable radios, four mobile radios and two pagers valued at $106,140.72