Columbia city manager gives plans for moving past pandemic ahead of state of emergency expiring
COLUMBIA, Mo. (KMIZ)
Columbia City Manager John Glascock gave the State of the City address Tuesday.
He said plans are in place to help the city continue to recover from the pandemic after the health order was lifted and with the state of emergency set to expire Saturday.
"Some of our local industries still have a long road ahead before they will be back to normal and some will feel the financial impacts of the pandemic long into the future," said Glascock.
Glascock said restaurants and bars have been hit hard over the past year by making difficult decisions to cut staff and limiting hours for employees.
Columbia Mayor, Brian Treece, said the city is now in the slower months of the summer to give a little extra breathing room to businesses to rehire staff that they may have lost and give them a chance to go back to full occupancy without being shoulder to shoulder inside.
Glascock said the tourism and hospitality industry has taken the biggest hit in Columbia and across the nation. Hotel tax revenues in Columbia are down nearly 40% and tourism-related spending is down 9%.
Watch playback of the message in the player below.
Glascock said the lifting of the state of emergency was monitored closely in partner with the Columbia/Boone County Health Department as 40% of Boone County residents have initiated vaccinations and case numbers continue to drop.
He praised health officials for vaccination outreach clinics and making sure that vaccinations can be readily available for anyone on any day of the week.
Treece said with the ability to lift the state of emergency, he is grateful for the community and the voluntary compliance through the pandemic which has kept the city and economy strong to be able to emerge out of the pandemic better than before.
Glascock discussed the importance of the Como Helps program to serve as a resource for managing donations to support nonprofit organizations through the pandemic. It has granted over $1.5 million to over 40 different organizations in the county.
"This year we have a much clearer picture of upcoming priorities and where the city stands financially compared to when I stood before you last year," said Glascock.
Glascock said the city's focus is shifting to recovery rather than reaction. He said $1.8 million has been set aside for public assistance to be used for housing and provide utility assistance, as well as providing reimbursements for COVID-related expenses for the hospitality industry and concert venues.
According to Glascock, the Columbia Fire Department is looking to expand its outreach in the community with a station on the south side of Columbia as well as identifying land to build a new station on the east side of town to help reduce response times in those areas.
Columbia fire chief, Andy Woody, said the pandemic highlighted the gaps to show the importance of having facilities in the additional locations to meet benchmark response time and serve all citizens equally.
Glascock said the police department is looking to expand also through the Molly Thomas Bowden policing center in north Columbia and are committed to policing disparities by the addition of an equity officer to review policies and break down barriers to promote unbiased policing.
When asked about the changes that the equity officer is making, Chief of Police Geoff Jones, said there is nothing that he can discuss now, but changes will be discussed in the coming weeks.
Jones did say the department is looking forward to being able to be face to face with people. "I found before the pandemic when we were having meetings, showing up in plain clothes and people seeing that we are just doing a job and apart of the community, it helped people see us as what we are and be able to work together instead of just us and them," said Jones.
